Opening Up
by Nemisses
Summary: Ziva has something to hide, will she let Tony in.
1. Chapter 1

**Well since my other stories are stuck in my head and this one seemed to coming out rather easily I decided to go with this one. Once again sorry about the language mistakes and also in this case any medical mistakes I am not a doctor so if I get it wrong I am sorry.**

**Chapter 1**

**Opening up**

Tony noticed Ziva had been quiet almost the entire day. She seemed preoccupied with something. She had left the office during lunch break and had come back rather late which caused Gibbs to give her a scolding. She had taken it like a man…well woman in her case, she just nodded and told Gibbs it was just a onetime thing because she had lost track of time while running an errant. Tony looked at Gibbs and he caught Gibbs staring at Ziva with a look on his face that matched his own, something was up.

'Gear up'

The team knew what that meant and was already heading towards the elevator.

'McGee, I need you to stay and run a background on this guy' Gibbs gave McGee an piece of paper with a name on it. He joined Ziva and Tony in the elevator but as soon as the doors were closed he was about to flip the switch but Ziva beat him to it and switched it for him.

'I need to talk to you'

Tony and Gibbs exchanged a glance. This was new. Normally Ziva wasn't the one who opened up so easily. She kept things to herself in an almost obsessive way, she always let you know just enough to keep you of her back.

' I went to the hospital last week to get a medical check-up and I got the results back today. That's why I was late today'

She looked rather nervously towards Gibbs. She played with her hands, she was nervous. Why..Tony thought.

'Apparently I am not doing so well. My immune system has gone…..hay….wire' She looked at Gibbs to see if she got that one right. He nodded.

'My doctor wants me to come in so he can keep an eye on me while he is treating me. Since I was given so many different kinds of drugs while ….' She seemed lost in thought for a moment but continued after taking a deep breath. 'I was in his camp he is afraid that I might or better yet my body might react rather violently to the treatment'.

'When does he want you to come in'

'He would like to start by the end of this week, Thursday so he can keep me there for one night and I would have the weekend to recover and see if any problems arise.'

'how….what are you feeling, I mean you must have felt that something was wrong.' Tony was worried and surprised why hadn't he noticed anything, should he have noticed anything. He was getting angry, why hadn't she told him anything, he would have been there for her.

' I get tired rather easily, when it has been a long day I am exhausted, no matter what I have done, desk-duty or not. I get headaches, sometimes I cannot keep my food down and every now and then I get a fever…She hesitated but after she took a look at Gibbs she sighed 'Ok, I get fevers a lot'

'Dammit Ziva, why haven't you told me' Tony was as mad as hell. Ziva was surprised, she thought she would be dealing with a angry Gibbs not with a angry Tony. Tony kept on ranting on how she could have confided in him and that is what partners suppose to do for each other. Ziva kept getting more and more agitated. She finally got a word in.

'Why are you angry, I have only been told this myself today'

'You were at my place yesterday, we were having movie night, you could have told me that you were going to get a medical checkup'

'Oh, I am sorry' Now Ziva was getting angry as well. 'Sorry for not telling when I had to deal it with myself first but you know what next I will tell you but you know what there will not be a next time. I will not be coming to movie-nights anymore because I did not know I had to give you my medical history in order to be invited to one of those movie-nights'

Ziva switched to elevator back on and the second the doors opened up to the garage she stomped out.

Gibbs turned to face Tony…..Smack….He left Tony alone in the elevator to figure that one out all by himself. Idiot…

**TBC….. **


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you very much for reviewing, the more the better. Thanks to all those who put the story on alert and/or favorite. Love to hear your input. Anyway moving on, I am in the midst of chapter 4 and I don't know how many chapters are in the making. I never do, so bare with me.

**Opening up**

**Chapter 2**

The ride to the crime scene was a quiet one. None of them talked during the processing of the crime scene. Ziva was avoiding Tony. Tony still didn't know how to react to Ziva's illness so he just remained quiet and Gibbs well he was just being Gibbs.

The ride back to NCIS was done in silence as well, all three team members caught up in the own thoughts.

That afternoon was used to find whatever information they could on Petty Officer Newt, they quickly found out he was quit the ladies man he had chased just about anyone with a skirt on. At around five Gibbs stood up walked over to Ziva's desk, this time he did notice she looked tired, why hadn't he paid more attention to his probationary agent before today.

'Go home Ziver'

'I am not done yet'

'Go home, don't make me force you' Ziva looked up and nodded. She knew that arguingwith him right now was useless.

'DiNozzo, take her home'

Ziva's head jerked up. ' I am perfectly capable of driving home myself, Gibbs'

' I am sure, but that doesn't mean I am letting you'

Tony escorted her all the way to her front door. He hadn't said much during the drive to her house.

'I am alright Tony, you can go back now'

Ziva sighed, she wasn't ready to deal with Tony right now. She knew he wanted to know more but she just couldn't be bothered.

'Can I come over tonight, we could watch a movie'

Ziva looked at Tony.

'Sure, why don't you come at seven I'll have diner ready ok'

He smiled. She melted.

Tony was at Ziva's door just before seven. The house looked dark when he parked his car near the main entrance and he wondered if she was even at home. He knocked but no answer, so he let himself in by picking the lock.

He found her coat hanging in the exact same spot as she left it when he had brought her home. He saw her shoes lying in the middle of the room and he found a shirt in the hallway and then he heard it. My god..he thought…what the hell…someone was taking down the house. He quietly opened her bedroom door and he found her lying on bed fast asleep, he saw sweat glistering on her forehead so he knew she had a fever. She was snoring

He decided not to wake her and carefully tiptoed back to the living room where he switched the TV on. He mused on the fact if he should order in or not and if he did should he order for her as well but before he knew it he was engrossed into the movie that was currently showing on HBO. It was around 21.00 when he heard a faint noise coming from the bedroom and before he knew it Ziva was standing next to him.

'you could have woken me up, you know'

'Nahhh" Tony shrugged. 'didn't want to, looked like you needed it. You want to order in some chinese'

'no, I will cook something for us, yes'

Ziva kept herself busy, not wanting to talk to Tony about everything just yet but Tony had other ideas.

'sorry'

'about what'

'this afternoon, I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did, but in my own defense I've got to say I was and I am worried about you and angry that you didn't share this with me'

Ziva sighed and turned around. She decided to be straight forward with him, she needed him to know. She needed to open up to him.

'Maybe I should have but for a long time I did not want to admit to myself that something was wrong. I wanted it to be over and done with, I didn't wanted to be reminded of the things he did while I was there. I kept finding excuses to tell myself it was nothing, the flu or a cold or maybe I pushed myself to much during my daily run and that's why I was so tired but after the last check up I can no longer fool myself.'

Tony walked over to her and gathered her in his arms. She completely caved in and for once relayed on his strength to keep her up. Tony didn't know how long they stood there but he cherished every single second, she didn't let him know that she needed him that often. He would take whatever she gave him.

'Zee'

'Yes'

' Please let me take you to the hospital on Thursday'

After a long silence a soft muffled OK was heard.

**TBC..**


	3. Chapter 3

Well here is chapter 3, hope you enjoy it. Keep those reviews/comments coming.

**Opening up**

**Chapter 3**

Ziva got up and heard and felt her stomach growl. She hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and felt her stomach protest against that. Her doctor had told her she could have something light so she decided on a view crackers before heading off to the hospital. She already had her clothes on and was packing her bag for the overnight stay in the hospital when there was a knock on her front door.

She had completely forgotten the fact that she had agreed in a moment of weakness that Tony would take her. Crap…She couldn't take his wisecracks right now, she just wanted it to be over and done with. She reluctantly opened her front door and indeed Tony was standing there.

'madam, your taxi is waiting'

Ziva sighed, grabbed her overnight bag and followed Tony to his car. He held the door open and after she sat down he got in.

'Why are you doing this, Tony'

'You are my partner and that is what partners do and just for the record cause it's not negotiable I am going to be visiting you tonight'

'It is just one day, Tony, just one day. I do not need any visitors. You can visit me at home during the weekend.'

'Like I said not negotiable'

He dropped her off and even insisted on walking her to the front desk and made sure she was all settled in. She got checked in, changed into a hospital gown and slowly peered around the door of the small bathroom inside her room.

Darn it, he was still there. She just knew he was going to make some stupid sexiest remark about her gown. She had completely forgotten that these stupid gowns were open at the back.

If she could just get into the hospital bed without him noticing. Ziva tried her best but Tony still noticed. He smiled.

"out of all the things you could have forgotten a nightgown wasn't exactly on my list'

'hmpff just shut up. If I cannot keep you from visiting me tonight you might as well bring me a proper nightgown. I have one in the drawer next to my bed, it's all blue'

Tony smiled some more.

'and no you are not allowed to look anywhere else but there. I will know if you went through my underwear.'

Tony's smile grew even bigger.

He leaned over and before she could react he bend over and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

'See you tonight'

McGee was surprised, he was on time and he knew Tony wouldn't be but Ziva wasn't there either. Weird.

'Morning Boss'

'McGee'

'Ziva's late, well technically she isn't but in her case she is'

Gibss raised his eyebrows.

'Well, she is normally first to arrive and right now I don't even see her bag or coat'

'She won't be coming in today, she has a appointment at the hospital and Tony is taking her there'

'What's wrong' McGee sounded worried.

'Nothing, she has had some tests done last week and her doctor thought it was wise to have her stay overnight so he can monitor her reactions while she takes some medications.'

'Is it serious, Boss'

'I dunno McGee, I dunno'

Gibbs stood up and was about to leave when Tony arrived.

'How did it go' Gibbs asked.

'Good, she hadn't expect me to take her, she was kinda hoping just to go quietly but that's not going to happen. I also told her I would be visiting her tonight.'

'I'll go with you' McGee jumped in.

'Not a good idea McEager'

'why not'

'She wasn't too happy with me coming tonight but I insisted and there is something she needs from me' Tony was practically gloating.

'what' both Gibbs and McGee said.

'Her nightgown, she went to the hospital and forgot her nightgown so she now wears a hospital gown and she isn't too happy about it. Everyone knows a hospital gown sucks and she forgets to bring her own.'

Gibbs gave Tony a smack on the head. 'what was that for' He whined.

'Do you think that she might have been nervous.'

'Ziva nervous' McGee couldn't even put those together in one sentence.

Gibbs left the bullpen and was actually dreading to visit Abby, he knew he had to explain Ziva not being here. He entered Abby's domain. Loud music was blaring out of several sound systems and Abby's head was bobbing along with the music. She was in her element.

'Hello my Numero Uno' She turned to him and immediately fell quiet. She turned the music off.

'what's wrong'

Gibbs didn't think she could read him that easily apparently he was mistaken.

'Tony took Ziva to the hospital this morning.'

'what, she got shot already. You guys were working on case that I didn't know about. Is it bad, oh god Gibbs she's going to be ok isn't she. Why wasn't I informed straight away, I could have been there at the hospital to give her moral support'

'Calm down, Abby, Calm down'

'Ziva had some tests done last week and she got the results back at the beginning of this week and her doctor wants her to take some medications. He also wants her to stay overnight so he can monitor her bodies reactions to those same medications'

Abby took her lab coat of and proceeded to put on her own coat.

'Where do you think you're going'

'I am going to be with her'

'No, you are not. She doesn't want anyone around. She told Tony that it would be fine if you came over during the weekend when she was back home, but she doesn't want to see anyone at the hospital and we are going to RESPECT that, are we not Abby'

'But she is my best friend…she needs me'

'Ziva does need you but she needs you to respect her wishes'

Abby was a little hurt by all of this but understood that this was Ziva and part of being Ziva's friend was a understanding that she needed her space and this was one of those occasions.

'ok, I'll go and see her this weekend'

'If you want to give or tell her something tell it to Tony, he is going tonight' Gibbs raised his hands to stop Abby from asking the most obvious question. 'he is only going because she forgot something and she needs him to bring it'

Gibbs gave Abby a hug and a kiss.

'what did she forget'

'nightgown'

'ahhhh. I see, hospital gowns suck. Ok, I'll talk to Tony'

**TBC….**


	4. Chapter 4

Some readers asked what is exactly wrong with her. I wanted to keep it indistinct cause I am not a doctor after all but I think I came up with a good solid solution. It's probably not correct but it will have to do. However it will be explained in the next chapter. I came up with it when something similar happened to my father several years ago, he is fine now because he got helped. So you could say I took some reality and replaced some aspects with my own.

**Opening up**

The day had gone by so awfully slow, well at least according to Tony. He wanted to go and see how Ziva was doing. Finally Gibbs indicated that the day was over.

'Boss'

'Go'

Tony didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed his bag and was on his way. He was going by Ziva's place first and then his to change clothes.

He opened Ziva's front door and walked into her bedroom. He was a little taken aback by the interior, it was elegant. He felt such a intruder. He rummaged true her drawers and he couldn't help it. Victoria's secret…oohhh god. He could never look at her again without thinking about this particular drawer, why did he ever agree to do this. He quickly opened up another drawer and saw the blue nightgown, well it was more of a t-shirt, what the heck it was a t-shirt his to be exact. Paris he thought, she must have mistakenly put it in her bag and while he thought he had lost it she was wearing it. The shirt had her scent all over it, it was hers now.

He drove by his place, showered, changed clothes and was on his way to the hospital. When he arrived he bumped into Ziva's doctor while heading for her room.

'how is she, doc'

'Well, the reaction was a little bit more violent than I had hoped for but she's doing alright. She has been vomiting all day so we had to give her a IV in order to keep her hydrated. She is really tired and that has me a little concerned but we'll know more in view days when all of the test results are back.'

'why are you concerned' Tony didn't like what the doctor was telling him.

'I don't think it's my place to inform you, if you have any questions you wish to know ask her yourself' The doctor excused himself and left Tony with a heavy feeling to his chest. What the hell was wrong with her.

Tony entered Ziva's room and immediately heard retching sounds coming from the bathroom. He quickly entered the small bathroom and found Ziva clutching the toilet. He sank down next to her and began rubbing her back. Her IV to keep her hydrated was standing next to her. She flinched when he touched her but relaxed when she realized who was doing it.

'hey sweetcheeks'

He stroked her hair. She was hot and sweaty and not in a good way. It took her a while but she finally opened her eyes, they were glazed over and she didn't seem to register him at all.

'hey Tony' came a very soft voice. 'I am not doing so well'

'I noticed'

She leaned back into him, the back of her head was resting against his chest.

'could you give me some water to wash my mouth with'

'sure'

Tony reached over to where a glass of water was standing and when he gave it to her she used it to clean her mouth and the rest of it was gulped down.

'shouldn't you be in bed'

'yeah, but I needed to go' A small smile lit up her sweaty face. 'and I didn't want to have a to do it in one of those things'

She pointed to weird looking thing that hung next to her bed.

'Oh'

Tony thought she was right, he never liked those things as well. Having your own urine hanging next to you while you ate and slept in that bed_.(AN; don't know how that is done in the US but that's what they use here if a patient isn't as mobile as the patient wants to be)_ He shivered.

'let's get you back to bed'

He gently helped her back on her feet, carefully not to rip the IV line out of her and guided her back to the hospital bed. He could see her back, oh my …He turned bright red and tried to look the other way but he couldn't resist. He looked at her back which was exposed and due to the fact that Ziva was so tired she couldn't even be bothered by it. He saw some of the damage Saleem had done. Bastard, a shot through the head had been a far too easy way for that animal to die.

Ziva collapsed onto the bed, she didn't even have the strength to pull up the blankets so Tony did that, he sat himself down onto a chair that was standing right next to her bed. He kept wanting to touch her, to let her feel he was there that she wasn't alone. He stroked her face. He wiped away the sweat with one of the towels hanging in the room. He told her about his day. She asked him a view questions but after about 10 min. she had gone completely quiet and could tell by her even breathing that she had fallen asleep.

**TBC…**


	5. Chapter 5

Many thanks to surferdude8225 (hope I got the name right) for beta reading this for me. If there are still language mistakes in here it's all my fault. Enjoy and leave a review.

Ok, something went wrong but I should have it fixed. Uploaded the same chapter by mistake but this is the real chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tony stayed for about an hour when he realized she wasn't going to wake up  
anytime soon so he decided to call it a night. He gave her a kiss on the  
forehead and left. He still needed to know what the hell was wrong with her so  
he needed to find her doctor.  
After about half an hour, he saw the doctor that he had bumped into earlier  
when he'd first gotten there.  
'Hey, doc,' he said, walking up to the doctor.  
'Yes, Mr. DiNozzo? I assume your visit with Miss David went well?' the doctor  
asked.

'What's wrong with her?' Tony cut right to the chase. He was done with the  
pleasantries.  
The doctor sighed. 'She didn't tell you then?  
'Nope, she was too busy puking out her guts and after that collapsed into a  
coma," Tony said angrily.  
The doctor raised his eyebrows, concern crossing his face. 'Coma?'  
'Ok, bad choice of words. She fell asleep, but I need to know what's wrong  
with her.' Tony said.

'Alright, since I know you're on her list of contacts in case of an emergency,  
I guess I can tell you. As you know, Miss David spend last summer in a  
somewhat unhealthy environment,' the doctor started, stating facts Tony  
already knew.

Tony nodded, afraid of what might come next. The doctor continued,  
'Her surroundings were not exactly the cleanest place you would like to be in.  
In fact, it was so dirty, that she now has a bacterial infection in her body.  
Normally, that would be easily treatable with medication and, we're doing that  
right now, hence the puking part. However I was and still am afraid that the  
bacterial infection might have infected the aorta. That's why I don't like the  
fact that she is so tired. I am hoping that this is not the case and we can  
treat it with," the doctor put up his hands and made quotation marks  
with his fingers, 'simple medications.'

'And if they don't work?" Tony whispered. He almost didn't want to know but he  
needed to know what was happening to Ziva.

"Then I am afraid she cannot continue in her line of work and has to seek  
employment elsewhere where the stress and physical levels are not as high.  
She would also need constant monitoring and continued treatment," the doctor  
told him.

Tony let out a huge breath. He had a worst-case scenario in mind that thank  
God wasn't coming true. She wasn't going to die, but the longer he thought  
about it, the more worried he got. Ziva didn't know anything else but the  
life she had been living up till now, it would kill her not working at NCIS  
anymore. What would she do if she indeed needed continued treatment?

The following day, Tony was back at the hospital around 10.00. Ziva had called  
to ask if he could take her home. The doctor had given his approval. She had a  
good night without incidents and the doctor didn't expect any further  
complications. So now he was standing in her room waiting for her to get out  
of the bathroom.

When she did emerge he could tell she was already exhausted after simply  
changing into her street clothes. That wasn't a good sign according to the  
doctor. Damn…

Tony pulled out a wheelchair and Ziva sat down without protest. That in itself  
was a sign she was beyond tired. He took her as far as it was allowed and they  
walked the rest of the way to his car. He quickly opened her door and when he  
was sure she was sitting securely and buckled up he ran towards his side of  
the car.

'Alright, let's take you home. Sleeping in your own bed is far better than  
anything the hospital can provide.' he said, trying to make conversation.

Ziva nodded. Tony turned to get a good look at her, she was pale but looked  
good otherwise. At least a lot better than she had been yesterday.

'So, did the doctor give you any instructions?' Tony had talked to the doctor  
himself regarding this same subject so he knew what kind of information was  
given to her, but he wanted to hear and see if she would do as the doctor had  
told her.

'Yes, eat healthy, drink plenty of fluids, but most of all he told me to take  
it nice and slow and take many, many naps.' she smiled, a nap right now  
sounded good to her right now. 'As soon as the test results come back, he will  
be contacting me to see how and what we will be doing to nip this thing in the  
bum.'

Tony smiled at her. 'Nip this thing in the butt, sweetcheeks,' he corrected  
her for the millionth time.

'Butt or bum, same thing,' Ziva said. 'I will be healthy again, just you wait  
and see, no little bug is getting me down. Not after what I have been through.  
I will fight this,' she told him.

Tony looked at her. She was going to fight this thing. He slapped her lightly  
on the leg. 'Damn right you are. We're going to beat this.'

When they got to her place, there wasn't much left from Ziva's fighting  
spirit earlier. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, but she refused  
to let Tony carry her to her door.

Once inside, she excused herself and went to the bathroom. She took a good  
look at herself in the mirror. A tired stranger looked back at her. Whom was  
she kidding? She was done fighting. She had nothing left inside. She just  
couldn't be bothered with it. Tony had snuck up on her and sensed her mood. He  
gently engulfed her is his arms.

"You just need a night of uninterrupted sleep and you'll feel a whole lot  
better," he told her, holding her and not letting her go.

"What if that isn't good enough, Tony? What if the infection has spread and I  
am forced to a life of medication. I will have to leave NCIS. This job has  
kept me alive ever since Somalia. It has kept me from giving up when I could  
not take it anymore I just kept going because the team kept me going but what  
if…" she broke, finally she broke. She cried like Tony had never seen her  
cry. Hell, he had never seen her cry period and there wasn't one damn thing  
he could do or say because he knew she was right. They had to wait for the  
test  
results.

They stood there for a long time in complete silence, Tony just holding her  
and stroking her hair…

**TBC…**

**Leave a comment, to let me know I am on the right track…**


	6. Chapter 6

Once again my thanks goes to Surferdude8225 for beta-reading this for me. If there are still mistakes in it, it's all my fault. I hope you enjoy en leave behind a comment.

**Chapter 6**

Ziva slowly peeled herself away from Tony's arms.

"I am going to take a nap, just like the doctor ordered," she turned and walked away. Tony felt her slipping away from him. Her walls were up again. She had her moment of weakness and now it was business as usual.

"Don't shut me out, Zee."

She stopped but didn't turn around.

"I am not," she whispered. "I just do not know what else do to. I am losing a fight I did not start and I…am scared."

"If you need me, I'm right here," Tony said. She nodded.

Ziva went into her bedroom, changed into her sleeping attire, and slipped under the covers.

When Tony checked on her just a view seconds later, she was sound asleep. He left to pick up some groceries and when he returned, she was still fast asleep.

It was close to lunchtime when Abby arrived. Tony opened Ziva's front door and was rewarded with a tremendous hug.

"Hey, Tony. So where is she? I wanna see her!"

"She's asleep, Abby, don't wake her up. She needs her rest, ok?"

Abby quietly stepped into Ziva's bedroom and watched her best friend sleep. Just when she was about to leave, she could hear Ziva starting to wake up.

"Hey," came a muffled voice. "Abby."

"Hey, Ziva, you're awake," Abby whispered. "Ohh duhhh …of course you are or else we wouldn't be having this conversation," Abby giggled.

"Yup, but the bed is too nice to get up," Ziva's voice was still heavy with sleep and she wasn't in a hurry to get out of her very comfy bed. She padded the bed hoping, Abby would get the hint and Abby sure did.

Abby got rid of her shoes and her coat and joined Ziva in the bed. They snuggled close together.

When Tony had lunch ready, he was about to call Abby and Ziva, but when he approached Ziva's bedroom door, he heard the two woman talking and decided that Ziva needed some girl talk with Abby.

After a hour or so both Ziva and Abby came out of the bedroom and were ready to join Tony for lunch.

"So what did you girls talk about?"

"Everything and nothing that concerns you, Tony," Ziva said with a smile. Tony was glad to see she was more alert and seemed relaxed, but most of all she looked very well rested.

"So when do you get the test results?" Abby said dampening the light mood instantly.

Abby looked from Tony to Ziva and back again.

"What, you already got the results back?" Abby looked shocked. "if you did, why didn't you tell me?"

"No, I did not get the results back yet."

"Ok, that's it, what's going on? I want to know. I know it has something to do with Somalia, they did something to you, didn't they? That bastard gave you too many drugs or something like that and now you're hooked. I know some good clinics, you know, I can get you in one of them. Don't worry it will be ok, I'll help you. We will get you through this, don't worry."

Abby was in full ranting mode. She just kept talking, barely taking breaths between sentences. Throughout all of this she kept hugging Ziva who was becoming more and more agitated with Abby's behavior.

"Stop, Abby, just stop!" Ziva yelled. "I am not a drug addict. I might have to leave NCIS, but I am not a drug addict."

Abby stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

Ziva sighed. "Abby," She took a deep breath. "In Somalia, I became infected with a bacteria that is damaging to the heart." Ziva put up her hands when Abby made a attempt to interrupt. "Do not ask me the name of this bacteria, because I keep forgetting it. Anyway, when I had my checkup about three weeks ago, the doctor told me to get my blood checked, because he did not like it that I kept getting more or less sick all the time, so I had it checked. They found out that I had a bacterial infection and last Friday they checked if it has reached my aorta. They also started treatment because…..well, I am infected, the only question remaining is how far it has invaded my body. The reason I went to hospital on Thursday is because the doctor wanted to keep a close eye on me in case I got really sick, which I did." Ziva stopped talking because Abby had gone completely silent.

Ziva looked at Abby, not really knowing what to do with a very silent Abby and she was afraid that Abby's eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

Ziva punched Tony. "Do something, she's not talking anymore." Tony shrugged his shoulders, he also didn't know what to do with a silent Abby.

"I dunno what to do, I haven't seen her like this before. Palmer did once when Ducky got stabbed in the hand."

"When do you get the results?" Abby was back among the living.

"In about two weeks or so," Ziva still looked at Abby as if she was going to explode at any minute.

Abby sighed. "You know, I'm not really good at this waiting game. What are you going to do?"

"Well, I thought I could go to work on Monday and I will take it from there."

"You are NOT going to work on Monday!" Tony was furious. What the hell was she thinking?

"I am GOING to work and there is not a damn thing you can do about it!" Ziva was getting just as angry as Tony. What the hell was he thinking, telling her what or what not to do? "I am not going to sit here and wait for Judgment Day to arrive. I need to occupy my mind or else I will go crazy." Ziva wasn't going to back down. Abby kept looking at the two adversaries at the opposites sides of the table.

Abby got up and grabbed both Tony's and Ziva's shoulders. "Calm down. We can work this out. You've got to admit, Tony, sitting here waiting for the call isn't exactly something either one of us would like. Maybe she can do desk duty while we wait."

"Desk duty, are you nuts?" Ziva was fuming. Now she had two people telling her what to do.

"Why don't we wait until Monday and then decide? If you feel good, you can come in, if not, you stay home. Let's just wait and see, ok?" Abby tried to make a deal that would make both parties happy.

"Mmm, ok," Tony backed up a little.

Ziva did the same. "Ok, deal."

"Can we eat now? Cause I am starving." Abby sat down again and grabbed a sandwich.

After lunch, Abby went back to work but when she was about to go out the front door she was stopped by Tony. "Abby, can you inform the others about this and we'll see what she is going to do on Monday."

"You know she going to work on Monday, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know, but maybe Gibbs can convince her that she's better off doing desk duty for the time being or even better that she is better off staying at home until…" Tony couldn't say it, he just could face the fact that he might lose his partner.

"He would want to talk to her before he does anything."

"I know, I know," Tony sighed. No one could tell Gibbs what to do. Gibbs would decide himself if he would allow Ziva back into the field or not.

**TBC….**

**Leave a comment/review. Thx**


	7. Chapter 7

Once again thanks for beta-reading this surferdude8225. I am sorry for not updating for such a while but sometimes that's just the way it is and I am sorry for that. However here is chapter 7 hope you enjoy it and don't be shy leave a review.

**Chapter 7**

During the weekend, Ziva slept a lot and when she didn't, Tony made sure she was eating plenty of healthy food. He knew a weekend of healthy eating wouldn't exactly help her, but he figured it wouldn't hurt her either. He thought she could use it because after Somalia, she never quit got her normal weight back. He always suspected it, but when he was around her 24/7 during the weekend he knew for sure, she was a lot skinnier then before, she hadn't been big to begin with but now. He didn't like it.

'You're skinny.'

'What?'

'You're skinny, you're a lot skinnier then you were before Somalia.'

Ziva sighed. 'Well, I have not been feeling well for a long time and keeping my food down was one of the problems.'

'Why didn't you go to the doctor sooner?'

'I do not know. I just wanted it to be over. I was not…I could not face Somalia again. It would mean I had to give information on what he did to me and I was not ready to do that just yet.'

'So did you?'

'Did I what?'

'Give him information on what he did to you?'

'Yes.'

That was the closest he had come to ever hearing anything about what was done to her. She didn't talk about it and she wasn't going to right now because he could tell that from her entire demeanor. He didn't push, she didn't give.

Come Monday morning, Tony woke up to hear Ziva's shower running. So she was indeed going to work…crap..now what? He didn't want her to go, she wasn't ready yet. They had gone for a walk yesterday afternoon and when they had gotten back to her apartment, he noticed she was pale from exhaustion. His back protested as he got up from the couch. He knew he was going to lose this fight, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to avoid it.

'So, you're going to work.' Tony figured he might as well go out with a bang.

'You can have the shower now, I am done.' She was ignoring him.

_Ok_, Tony thought, _let's do this_.

'You shouldn't be going to work. You're still a little bit ….wobbly.' He meant to say weak, but he knew the moment that had left his mouth, he would have lost the battle (_and possibly some teeth)._

Ziva turned around looking glaring at him. He swallowed, oops. 'What did you say?'

God, he loved her so much right now. One day, he would tell his children that this was the moment he knew he was totally in love with their mother. Right this minute, lightning struck and he was pretty sure he was the only one hit at that moment. She was so ready to kill him, which meant there was a slight discrepancy between his and her moment.

'What I mean is that we should tell Gibbs and let him decide.'

'Right, but that wasn't what you said, you said I was….. what was the word…wobbly.

What do you mean by me being wobbly?'

Tony saw a way of getting out of the war without being injured. 'It just means that you are still a little in doubt about whether or not you should tell Gibbs and I say that you should.'

'Yes, you are right about that. I do not like telling Gibbs about my illness. He knows I went to the hospital to get tested, but he does not need to know every detail.'

'Yes, he _does_ need to know. He needs to make an honest and fair decision about whether or not to allow you back into the field.'

Ziva remained silent.

' Ziva, you need to tell him. We all watch each others' back in the field and if you are not up to it he _needs_ to know.'

'I am up to it.' Ziva sounded like a little girl who knew she wasn't getting away with something.

'Let him decide.'

'Fine.' She walked away angrily. 'Hurry up and shower. We are going to be late.'

'Fine,' Tony said just before he entered her bathroom. A smile on his face, he hadn't lost the war, just the going-to-work-battle.

When they arrived at NCIS, they were exactly seven minutes late. Ziva was angry and the fact that she was late wasn't really helping. So when they arrived in the bullpen, Ziva didn't waste any time to get behind her desk and starting her work. Gibbs, however, seemed to have other ideas.

He looked at Tony, who dumped his backpack and the two men shared a look. Tony nodded. Gibbs stood up walked over to Ziva's desk, raised his index finger and beckoned Ziva to his office.

So now they were in the elevator. Gibbs switched the emergency button and the elevator came to halt.

'Talk to me.'

'I am fine.'

'Ziver…'

'I have to wait for the results. I hate waiting.'

'What's the worst case scenario?' Gibbs hated to ask, but needed to know.

'That I will not be fit enough to work for NCIS anymore,' she whispered. 'The doctor is afraid that the bacterial infection that I have has affected my aorta.'

Gibbs was shocked, he hadn't know it was _this_ bad. How could he have missed this? He felt guilty for not paying more attention to his probationary agent of the team.

Ziva heard the sharp intake of his breath. 'Do not feel guilty. I became very good at hiding pain and discomfort in Somalia.'

'When do you get the results?'

'Hopefully by the end of next week. I have already started to take medication to fight the infection, but if it really comes to it, I am no longer allowed to perform….' She couldn't say it. She just couldn't face up to it.

'What are your symptoms?' Gibbs put a finger under her chin. 'And don't lie to me. I can tell when you are.' She nodded.

'I do feel better I suppose, it's that… my appetite is gone and I feel tired all the time even if I have slept like ten hours and I do not know if that is caused by the medication or the infection and it scares the hell out of me.'

'Alright, we'll start with desk-duty and let's take it one day at a time. Ok?'

'Ok.'

Gibbs gathered her in his arms. 'It's going to be alright, Ziver. We'll get you through this.'

For the rest of the week, Ziva had desk-duty and when Thursday came around, she was allowed to pick up a witness or accompany Tony and McGee to the suspect's house to gather evidence.

She was feeling a lot better, her eating had improved, but she still slept like a log, as Tony put it. She wasn't the first one to be at work, but the team made sure she was the first one to leave work. She needed her rest and, for once, Ziva didn't protest too much. Little did she know that by not protesting, she had the entire team on edge.

When Friday came, it was desk-duty for the entire team. Paperwork had to be done. It was around 0945 when Ziva's phone rang. When she picked it up and heard her doctor on the other side of the line her mouth became very dry.

'Hello, Doctor Rivers,' she managed to choke out.

Every single head in the bullpen shot up…

**TBC…..**


	8. Chapter 8

Once again I thank Surferdude8225 from the bottom of my heart for correcting any language mistakes. If there are still any they are all mine. Since I am not a doctor please don't take the medical stuff that serious. Hope you enjoy and write a review. Chapter 9 will take some time cause I haven't even started, oeps sorry about that.

**Chapter 8**

'Doctor Rivers, what can I do for you?'

Ziva thought that was a weird thing to say, but it was the first thing that came to mind. She was feeling strange, like she wasn't inside her own body anymore, if that made any sense. She couldn't even hear what her doctor was saying to her. She snapped back into the real world.

'Excuse me, what did you say?'

'That I am happy to inform you that the infection hasn't affected your aorta just yet, but you do need to come in on Monday so we can discuss the plan of attack because although I am very pleased with the fact it didn't affect the aorta, we do need to fight off the infection. We'll discuss all off this on Monday, let's say ten o'clock, but I wanted you to tell you the good news as soon as possible,' the doctor told her.

The phone fell from Ziva's hands. She couldn't hear anything anymore. She was in another world. It didn't affect her aorta, she could keep her job. Oh, god, breathe….

'Miss David…? Miss David?' Ziva vaguely heard her doctor on the phone, but she wasn't registering it anymore. She was going to faint. Gibbs saw the signs and rushed to her side. He immediately pushed her head between her knees.

'Nice and slow, Ziver, breathe nice and slow'

Tony grabbed the phone and explained to the doctor what was happening. The doctor told Tony what he had told Ziva. A big smile was beginning to form on Tony's face. He relayed the news to Gibbs and the doctor gave some information on what to do if Ziva indeed fainted. The best thing to do was to let her go outside and get some fresh air. Perhaps even eat something. There were smiles all around the bullpen. Ziva was slowly regaining color back in her face. She mumbled to Gibbs that she was feeling better and that he could let go off her. She was back.

'I need some space,' she mumbled.

Ziva stood up with shaky legs, but refused to have someone help her. She proceeded to get on the elevator and before anyone really was registering it, she was gone.

Tony grabbed his jacket and took Ziva's as well. He knew where she would be.

The park was just across the road. He quickly ran after her. She was sitting on the first bench of the park only a few meters away from the entrance. He put her coat over her shoulders and sat down next to her. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to. She just needed to know he was there, and she did. She turned around and grabbed him, she was squeezing the life out of him but he didn't care. She was his girl and his girl needed him right now. Silent sobs racked her body. After what seemed like hours, she finally let go and silently put on her coat that had fallen down onto the bench.

'I am cold.'

'You're OK,' Tony stated, as happy as she was.

'Yes, I am more than OK. I'm going to be fine.' It was like she needed to hear herself say it. Tony realized that she had given up on herself and that the phone call from her doctor had set a reaction in motion that she couldn't stop even if she had wanted to. That's why she nearly fainted when she heard the good news.

They walked silently back to NCIS. Tony reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers and softly squeezed them. He didn't notice her staring at him, this was her moment the moment she fell head over heels for Tony without any reservations and Gibbs' Rule 12 be damned.

The rest of the day went in a blur for Ziva. Her appointment with her doctor wouldn't be until Monday, but she felt exhausted, every fiber of her body was protesting. The world had been lifted of her shoulders and now her body ached after such a long time of so much stress. Gibbs noticed his Probationary Agent wasn't much use to him that day and had sent her home shortly after lunch. She smiled and wanted to protest, but he gave her that look so she went. When she got home she took a long hot bath and went to bed.

Tony came to her apartment and, after some knocking on her front door without any result, he decided just to use his key and see if she needed him, you know, just in case. Yeah, right, who was he kidding? He needed her. Tony found her sound asleep in her bed. He looked through her cupboards for something to eat, but to his surprise, they were pretty much bare. That was so unlike Ziva, but then he realized she didn't eat that much lately anyway due to her medication and the only time she had eaten was when he had brought her the groceries. So once again, Tony DiNozzo went out and bought the groceries Ziva would need to fix them a good meal or maybe he could put a good meal together. He had watched her plenty of times, so he knew what she liked and what she didn't like. Ziva was a spicy lady, so he bought plenty of those kinds of food.

When he got back, she was still asleep and he started on the meal that he wanted to make. I mean, how hard could it be, he thought. Just follow the recipe and go. He got going, everything went well until he got the food out of the oven and saw that is wasn't ready. How the hell did that happen, he followed the instructions didn't he?

'Damn…' he muttered.

He heard a soft chuckle coming from behind him and when he turned around he found Ziva standing in the doorway with a huge smile on her face.

'What?' he growled. 'It's not finished, but it should have been. I followed the instructions to the letter you see!' He put the piece of paper with the instructions under her nose.

Ziva grabbed the instructions and laughed. 'Yes you did, but not every oven is the same. Sometimes the food needs to stay in longer or shorter in one oven then the other due to heat differences. Just give it another ten or fifteen minutes. It should be ok by then'.

'Then why didn't you write that down?' Tony muttered. 'Then it would have been perfect.'

'It's my oven, so I know how and what to do. I never thought you would use it. You just make a mean pasta and that is all I have you seen make.'

Another ten minutes later and the meal was ready. They both ate in silence, or at least Tony ate. He saw Ziva shoveling her food from one side of the plate to the other, she did get a view bites in, but didn't seem to like it at all.

'What's wrong, doesn't it taste good?' Tony asked her.

'Yes, it does, but I am not that hungry. When I got home, I took the medication again and it's making me feel very nauseous.'

'Oh, you're nervous for Monday,' Tony guessed.

'No, it didn't affect my aorta and for that I am very glad; now I have to face the band.'

'Face the _music_,' Tony corrected.

'That too.' she gave him a glorious smile. Tony's hart melted. That was his Ziva again.

They ate in silence; well Tony did most of the eating while Ziva just shoved her food all over her plate with a small bite every now and then.

Tony cleared the table, pushed Ziva out of the kitchen, telling her that she should pick a movie out of the ones he brought with him from the mall where he picked up her groceries.

They spent the weekend together. Ziva was very content in letting him sleep with her in one bed.

All too soon, it was Monday.

**TBC….**


	9. Chapter 9

I would like to thank once again my beta reader Surferdude 8225, who has been waiting patiently for this chapter. Had some trouble with it. I know where I am going with the story (sort off) but it didn't came out right, but anyway here it is.

**Chapter 9**

When it was Monday, Ziva found herself standing in front of her doctor's office. Despite the fact that Ziva had received good news, she was still nervous. One hour later she came out with a treatment plan and a whole lot of medical information she had to digest.

Her doctor had told her the procedure and she wasn't looking forward to it. Apparently her first hospital visit two weeks ago had been a prelude to that which was about to come. The only exception was that this time she didn't have to check herself into the hospital since it was already established that she was healthy, despite that little bug thing inside of her. Her doctor also told her she was going to be sick, but as long as she was going to stick to the routine, it shouldn't be any problem.

She might experience severe nauseous and some fever, but as long as she kept herself very well hydrated, she should be able to go along with the procedure without getting herself into hospital. She had to get a check-up once a week, but she could live with that. She hated hospitals. But if this was what she had to do to get better, then this is what she was going to do.

Now the only task at hand, or was it foot, she thought was to convince her team that she didn't need to go hospital or, better yet, convince Tony that she didn't want to go or even needed to go.

She entered the bullpen and was immediately bombarded with questions from Tony and McGee. Gibbs however stayed on the sideline, but she knew he would ask later. She told them the doctor wanted to start straight away and she was getting her first treatment tomorrow afternoon. She had already cleared it with Vance and Gibbs, whom she called the moment the doctor had suggested they start ASAP. So there was nothing standing in her way.

'So, what are the side effects?' Gibbs didn't waste any time the moment he had Ziva alone.

'Side effects?'

'Ziver…'

'Ok, Ok….. Fever, fatigue and severe nauseous, and especially during the first two to three days. He told me not to go out into the field and I wasn't allowed to do any strenuous activities such as running or…well ahum…' She went silent, 'some other stuff. She hoped that Gibbs wouldn't notice the slight blush that crept up her collar. He did notice, but chose not to question her any further.

The following day, Ziva drove to the hospital after she had said goodbye to her teammates during an extended lunch break. She didn't eat that much because she was too nervous and too afraid that it would come out during the remainder of the day.

The treatment itself wasn't going to be that bad. Her doctor explained that it would consist of several visits to the hospital and getting herself an injection of some kind of antibiotic. It would take no more than five to ten minutes. The rest would be up to her; the rest of the medication she could take right in her own home. So it was ridiculous that Tony had insisted that he go with her. She was glad she had talked him out of it. She was in and out of hospital in less than fifteen minutes. She wasn't feeling too bad, but that's what her doctor had warned her it would take a few hours before the medication would take effect.

So she went home, but before she got home she stocked up on food, just to be on the safe side. She was loading her purchases into her car when a wave of extreme fatigue washed over her. _Damn_, she thought, _this wasn't supposed to start so soon_. She drove home in style that would have made McGee proud, nice and slow. It took her a long time to get all of her purchases into her apartment and neatly stored away and by that time she was so tired and sweaty, she just went to bed without even taking any clothes off. It felt like having the flu; every move she made felt like climbing Mount Everest.

Just before she crashed into bed, she remembered keep hydrated or else. She drank a glass of water and put a full one next to her on the nightstand. Mission accomplished. It felt so good when her head hit the pillow. She was out like a light, however it didn't last long. After about two hours, she woke up and only barely made to the bathroom before she threw up. Boy was she glad that she didn't have that much to eat during lunch.

Tony was on his way to see Ziva, he knew it was her first day of treatment and he wanted to check up on her. He knocked on her front door, but there was no response.

He knocked again, still nothing. He decided to just pick her lock, but hesitated; after all, it could result in him getting shot by Ziva. But after a while, his heart won and his mind was put at rest the moment he heard vomiting sounds coming from the bathroom.

He made his presence known and held her hair back while she hugged her toilet. Nothing came out since it was her third visit to the bathroom in two hours. Tony gently helped her up and guided her to her bed. He felt her forehead and felt the sweat running down; she was defiantly having a full-blown fever attack.

'Hey, you gonna be ok?' he asked.

She nodded and sat down on the edge of her bed. She grabbed a glass of water that was standing next to her bed and gulped down the remaining water inside of it.

'Could you fill it up again please?' she whispered.

'Sure.'

When Tony got back, she was still sitting with her head inside her hands. He placed the now full glass of water on her nightstand so she could easily reach it. The next thing he did was to grab a wet cloth and gently wiped her face with it. She was burning up.

'Is this supposed to be normal?'

'Yes, the doctor told me it could happen.' She was too tired to explain anything else.

She crawled back into bed. Tony, after some hesitation, crawled into bed beside her. He lay behind her and carefully placed his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

'When I feel like this, it reminds of Somalia,' she whispered. Tony stiffened. This was the first time she willingly mentioned Somalia out of her own accord.

**TBC….**

Yup, push that button let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions let me, who know I'll take it into consideration.


	10. Chapter 10

Surferdude8225, once again I thank you for beta reading this for me if there are any language mistakes left it's all my fault. I would also like to thank those who took the time to review this story. It's much appreciated. Good suggestions are always taken into consideration if not in this story then in one of future ones. Thanks people..

Ps I made a huge mistake I uploaded the wrong chapter yesterday. My apologies for that, here is the correct one.

**Chapter 10**

Tony didn't know how long they lay there in complete silence. He didn't want to push her, but he desperately wanted to know more about Somalia. Then she took a deep breath and he held his.

'They never gave up. They would never stop. Day in day out, night after night. I just gave up, I did not care anymore. They would hit me, kick me, put out their cigarettes on me. They were very creative with inflicting pain on me. In the beginning, I tried to take care of myself, tried to clean myself up just a little bit each time, but after a while, I could not be bothered anymore. I figured the more I let myself go, the more they would leave me alone. I mean, who would want to be with a woman who smells of her own urine and feces, but they did not care, they just wanted to….have me…'

She shivered. Tony let her know he was right there for her, that he was close by, just in case she needed him. He let her know he had her back. He would be there for her. His hand drew circles on her back, comforting circles.

'Saleem became more and more frustrated with me. I was telling him nothing he could use. I would mix lies with truths and, after he had it figured out what I was doing, he had this incredible outburst. I was dragged into the courtyard and beaten with a whip, a stick, whatever he could find. He nearly beat me to death. I was bleeding rather badly, but he did not care, he could not care less whether I lived or died. I was begging him to kill me, but for some twisted reason, he did not. I think he figured that I would die a slow and agonizing death because of the beating, but I did not. I healed, but I became very weak due to infection of the wounds I had sustained. I had fever attacks, like I am having now. I hate it. It makes me weak'.

He didn't know what to say. She wasn't weak, she hadn't ever been weak. Tony wanted to make it better, but what do you say to someone who had begged for her own death? Not by choice, but simply because she wanted the pain that they inflicted on her to end, so it must have been enormous. Nothing that he would say or do would take that away.

'Zee?'

'Yes?' she murmured.

'Don't hit me.'

'What?' Her eyes shot wide open in surprise. 'Hit you, why would I do that?'

He slowly brought his lips to her forehead and gently placed a kiss on it.

'You are anything and everything but the one thing you are not, and that is weak. Never ever doubt that.'

He engulfed her in his arms, giving her a safe haven from the big bad world outside. He figured she needed to feel safe right now, to feel loved and secure. He didn't know how long they lay like that, but he felt her breathing even out and knew he had succeeded in just doing that.

The following morning, Tony woke up and felt a tremendous body heat coming from the person right next to him. She was facing him and he could see that she was dealing with a fever. She had kicked off her blankets and slept with nothing more than her sleeping attire. Her face was reddish and sweaty. Part of her shirt had ridden up her stomach and he could clearly see several scars and burn marks on her stomach. He paled, he hadn't seen any of this when she accompanied his father to that rich man's party. She had shown plenty of skin that night, but come to think of it, her entire front was more or less covered.

He got nauseous, it was one thing her telling him what they did, but to actually see the results of what they did was an entirely different matter. He needed to get to the bathroom, quickly.

'You okay?' he heard after only a few seconds. She had woken up to the noise of his vomiting and went to check on him.

'Yup.' He nodded. She didn't need to know the reason for his being sick. 'I had a burger last night that apparently didn't agree with me.'

'Right….' She went quiet. 'You used to be more creative with your lies.'

'I'm sorry.' He rinsed his mouth and cleaned his teeth with a toothbrush she had handed him.

'You saw ….them.' He heard her whisper.

He looked in the bathroom mirror and saw her looking at him with sad eyes. She was leaning against the bathroom doorpost. Her entire demeanor had changed. She turned away, shoulders slumped, looking utterly defeated. She slowly pushed herself from the doorpost and went to the bedroom to put on a bathrobe. When she had done that, she went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

He followed her back into the bedroom after he cleaned himself up. He was taking that extra time to clear his mind and to figure out how he was going to handle this. Shortly after he had dressed himself, he followed her into the kitchen. He could tell from the way she moved that she was hurt by his reaction.

'I think you should leave, Tony. You are going to be late for work if you stay any longer. I will join you later. Gibbs told me not to come in before nine.'

He was dumbfounded. She was going to work? A little over half an hour ago, she'd had a fever.

'You are not going to work today. You just had a fever.' He moved so quickly towards her she didn't have time to get out of his way. His hands cupped her face. 'You _still_ have a fever. You are not going to work, and to answer your question yes, I did see them. You had time to get used to them, I didn't. I was overwhelmed.' He sighed. 'I know you told me about the how and the when, but to actually see it is something entirely different. It blew me away, but I need you to know this… You are still the one I love with my body, mind and soul. You are still the most beautiful woman I ever laid my eyes on.'

Ziva was stumped. She had expected something entirely different. Tony left her standing there. He grabbed his coat and walked out her front door with a huge smile on his face.

TBC..

….and don't forget to leave a review.


	11. Chapter 11

Once again many thx to surferdude for beta-reading this for me. I've been sending nothing to her for a long time and then all of a sudden she's beta-reading 2 stories for me. Thanks…as for my readers sorry I didn't update for so long but in my defense I wrote 2 new ones who will be posted as soon as they are completly done and have been checked by my beta-readers. Anyway enjoy

**Chapter 11**

Her mind was playing tricks with her. Did she just hear him say what she thought she heard? She shook her head and that wasn't a good idea. Her head was about to explode. She put the dirty dishes in the sink and went back to bed. She slept until 11.30 and when she woke up, she just lay there, still confused about what Tony had said to her that morning. He loved her. She started smiling. _He loved her._

She jumped out of bed and regretted it immediately. She ran to the bathroom and hugged the toilet. What little breakfast she had eaten that morning came out. She felt a searing pain shooting up her body. _Oh, just great, why not_ she thought, she must have bruised a rib or two during last night's vomiting session and her throwing up right now sure didn't help either. She slowly got up and she felt what a bruised rib could do. Her breathing became very shallow due to the pain. Damn. Nice and slow was going to be her mantra for today.

Ziva slowly made it to the kitchen and got herself something to drink. A nice jasmine tea with a little bit of honey. She carefully sat down and sighed…oops, she shouldn't have done that. She was hissing in pain. Her phone buzzed. Tony must have put in on vibrate before he left this morning.

'Alright, alright I am on my way. Don't hang up,' she said, but the phone stopped vibrating when she was finally able to pick it up. She saw the caller ID and pushed the recall button. She carefully sank into the cushions of her sofa.

'Hey, Tony, you rang?' she asked when he picked up on his end.

'Yup, you okay?' he asked.

'Mmm,' she said.

'What does that mean?' Tony asked her.

'I am fine,' she assured him.

'Could you come in? We need a translator and the one we normally have is stuck in traffic and he doesn't think he'll be here soon due to a major collision. And since this is simple deskwork and nothing to strenuous, Gibbs thought you might like to come in,' Tony offered.

'Ok, but…' Ziva debated whether or not to ask him if someone could come and collect her. She was not able to drive feeling like this, but since she opened up to him last night, she felt that she could tell him, because if she didn't, she would hear it once she was at NCIS headquarters.

'What's going on, Ziva?' Tony asked nervously.

'Well…I need to take a cab because I think I bruised a few ribs during last night's vomiting session,' she confided.

'You _what_?' Tony asked her, disbelieving.

'Calm down, Tony, it does happen you know. I will see you in a bit. I am going to call a cab to take me to NCIS,' she told him.

'I'll be there in twenty minutes,' he said, not wanting her to take a cab while she was hurt.

He hung up on her before she could respond. Oh, crap now she had to hurry and get changed before he was here.

Ziva had managed to put on her jeans, but it had hurt a lot. Tony had his own set of keys to her apartment, so when she heard her front door open, she knew it was Tony who had arrived.

'Zee?' he called from the front of the apartment.

'I am in the bedroom,' she called.

She heard the footsteps coming closer.

'Are you descent?' he asked.

'No, but you can come in because I need help,' she said.

He stuck his head in her bedroom and saw that she wasn't completely dressed.

'Uhh, okay, what can I do?' he asked, feeling a little awkward with his partner half dressed just a few feet away from him.

'Help me put on my bra. I need someone who can hook it.' Ziva held a towel in front of her and showed Tony her back. Two little straps were dangling loosely on her shoulders.

'I can do that.' He chuckled. 'I'm normally the one who takes it off, so this is a nice change.'

He gently hooked up her bra, making every effort not to hurt her.

'Thanks,' she said. She dumped the towel and went to her closet in nothing more than her jeans and bra. She collected a shirt that she could button up from the front and after that she was all done and ready to go. She hadn't even notice the big grin on Tony's face. 'What? Why are you grinning like an idiot?' she asked him.

'Nothing…' He held his hands up. 'Absolutely nothing, let's just go.'

Ziva put on some flip flops and headed out the door with Tony right behind her.

Everything went fine until she had to get into his car. She held her ribcage, hoping it wouldn't hurt that much, but it did. Tony exchanged a worried look with her.

'It's fine, Tony, it's not that serious,' she tried to assure him.

'You're in pain, so it's not fine,' he growled.

They got to NCIS without a hitch. He helped her to get out of his car and they made their way to the elevator together.

He guided her to one of the interrogation rooms where Gibbs was sitting with a man. She took a seat in the corner and translated every single sentence that came out of Gibbs and the suspect.

'Gibbs?' She interrupted his questioning. 'I need to leave…now.' She got up and left before either Tony or Gibbs had a chance to react. She went for the ladies bathroom and, once again, she was best friends with the toilet.

She was breathing heavily caused by the vomiting and the pain of her bruised ribs. Which, in itself, caused even more pain. Gibbs and Tony were waiting outside the ladies room. Normally, Tony would have just gone in, but he figured with Gibbs standing next to him, he should try to keep up appearances. After a short while, Ziva came out and faced the two men.

'You should have told me,' Gibbs said quietly.

She nodded in agreement. 'But you needed me,' she pointed out.

'Not like this. We could have waited for the other translator,' Gibbs said.

She shrugged her shoulders. 'I am not going to die, it's just my ribs. If it makes you feel better, I'll have Ducky take a look at it.'

Both Gibbs and Tony agreed that that, in fact, was a good idea. They escorted her to the Morgue. Ducky took a quick look at Ziva and decided that a solid compression bandage would do nicely for her. It would alleviate the pain somewhat.

Ducky ushered both men out of the morgue so Ziva could have some privacy. He started to help her get undressed so he could apply the bandage. After he had helped her to remove her clothes, he held his breath. He saw some of the results of Saleem's torture.

TBC…please leave a review.


	12. Chapter 12

Guilty as sin, I haven't updated in a long while. However if I may something in my defence I have written 2 other stories and published them so I did have a good reason. Anyway sorry about the delay. As always thank you to my beta-reader Surferdude.

**Chapter 12**

Tony had been given ample warning, but not Ducky. He had, of course, seen some results of torture before, but never on someone he considered to be part of his family. And whenever Ducky gets real nervous, he starts to talk about everything and nothing that makes no sense at all. He was talking about some strange tropical disease when Ziva grabbed his hands and made him look at her. She took his hands and held them.

'I am here and I am still alive. What's done is done and in the past,' she told him, trying to reassure the man she considered to be her family as well.

He calmed down a bit, ashamed of this reaction to her scars. Ziva knew he had seen his fare share of torture. She remembered the situation with the female Afghan refugee who had tried to kill him. She didn't succeed, but had wounded him by stabbing a knife through his hand. She didn't need to tell him anything. He knew the pain she must have undergone.

'Now, let's get you that compression bandage,' Ducky said, snapping back into his usual self.

Ducky went to get some bandages from his storage and he made sure Ziva didn't see him when he swallowed away a big lump of bile that had crept up his throat. He knew how every scar had been made. Hell, he even knew some of the tools that were used on her. When he had gathered up his nerves again, he returned with a big pack of bandages.

'Are you ready, my dear?' She nodded.

Although he tried to be as gentle as possible, she still hissed in pain on a few occasions, but after he was done she felt a whole lot better. The compression bandage was doing his work. It relieved the pain considerably. She sighed. That was one problem solved.

'How is the fever going?' Ducky asked.

'It comes and goes. According to Tony, I had a fever this morning before I woke up, but I am alright right now,' Ziva told him.

Ducky raised his eyebrows. 'Tony was with you this morning?' he asked, surprised.

Ziva looked at Ducky. 'Yes…' she said hesitantly. 'Is that wrong?'

Ducky smiled. 'It was about time that boy made his move.'

'What do you mean?' Ziva was stunned by his reaction.

'When we heard you went down with the Damocles, he pretty much ceased to function. He came to work, don't get me wrong, but Tony wasn't Tony anymore. He merely existed.'

Ziva was shocked to hear this. Tony had never mentioned any of this. She got herself dressed again and walked out of the morgue deep in thought, but not before she had thanked Ducky for his expertise.

'You're welcome, my dear, if you need me you know where to find me.' Ducky shook his head. 'In this day and age and they still haven't got a clue as to what true love looks or feels like,' he admonished after Ziva was gone.

Ziva found Tony in the observation room. The suspect Ziva had run out on had come to an epiphany in her absence. When he had realized that trying to play, the suspect that didn't understand or speak English hadn't helped him much and he quickly had made it clear that, all of sudden, his English was good enough to ask for a lawyer.

Tony sighed. 'Case closed,' he murmured. He turned around and he took a good look at Ziva who was standing right next to him looking at the suspect and Gibbs in the other room. He noticed that her face was glistening with sweat. Her fever had come back and it was back with a vengeance.

'Your alright?' he asked. He didn't know why the hell he was asking because he knew the answer even before he asked the question. She surprised him this time.

'No, I am tired, my head hurts, my ribs hurt, and all I want to do right now is go home and go to bed,' she told him honestly.

Tony was taken aback by her honesty. She must be feeling really miserable. He gently took her by the arm and planned to guide her to his car. On their way back, they bumped into Director Vance.

'Agent David, may I have a word with you?' the older man asked.

Tony stepped in front of Ziva. 'Can't it wait? She's sick,' Tony said.

Vance took a good look at Agent David and he indeed seemed to notice that she wasn't looking healthy at all.

'It will only take a minute or two,' was his final decision.

Vance escorted Ziva into his office and offered her a chair as soon as they got in. He felt she could collapse at any given time. He needed to be quick.

'I feel the need to tell you your father has contacted me,' he told her after she was seated.

'Oh, did he?' Ziva wasn't up to much. Her strength had come and gone and now it was completely gone. She stared at the wall, desperately trying to focus on something.

_I shouldn't have come in_, she thought. She had felt reasonably well at home, but being here was an entirely different story. They could have dealt with the suspect without her. She heard Vance in the background, but it wasn't registering anymore.

Vance noticed Ziva wasn't really listening anymore and when he saw her whole body slump in the chair, he quickly walked over to his desk and poured Ziva a glass of water from the can of water he always had within reach. He gave it to her, but when he saw her hands shaking so much, he helped by holding the glass steady for her. She gulped down the water. He knew about her treatment, but he hadn't realized it was taking such a toll on her. He figured that whatever her father had to tell her, it could wait. She had waited for him in Somalia, the least he could do in return was to wait for her to get back on her feet.

After a few minutes Ziva seemed to be better, color was returning to her face and she seemed to be more alert. 'What did my father want?' she softly asked.

'Nothing, Agent David, he wanted nothing that cannot wait until you are back on your feet again. I will tell him you are incapacitated until further notice,' Vance told her.

Ziva stared at Vance and then slowly nodded. She didn't have the strength to question him about her father. She couldn't care less, all she wanted was to go home and sleep.

'Yes, perhaps that is best,' she said.

**TBC….once again sorry it took so long for me to continue**.


	13. Chapter 13

Oh, dear turns out I didn't even uploaded chapter 13, so here it is. I wanted to upload chapter 14 but when I saw I only had 12 chapters I figured I had numbered them wrong I went back to my back up and was pleasantly surprised that I hadn't numbered them wrong I just forgot chapter 13. Sorry ! Anyway thanks Surferdude for beta-reading this. So chapter 14 is going to wait just a little bit longer but I will upload it this week.

**Chapter 13**

Vance escorted Ziva out of his office. He gently helped her down the stairs and told Tony to take her home and that she wasn't allowed to return for the rest of the week. Tony took one look at Ziva and he agreed wholeheartedly.

When they were sitting in his car on the way back to her apartment, he dared to ask her what happened in Vance's office.

'Well, I was on the verge of passing out in his office…' Ziva started, but then Tony interrupted her.

'You what?' he asked, turning to look at her.

'Relax, Tony. He gave me some water to drink and I feel a little bit better now,' she told him.

She was so tired her accent was growing thicker with each sentence. Tony figured the best thing right now was to leave her alone. When they arrived at her apartment, Tony tried to gently lift her from the car, since about half way during the car ride she had fallen asleep or at least he hoped she had fallen asleep.

Ziva woke up with a jolt when Tony tried ever so gently to pick her up. Her ribs were hurting and him touching it wasn't really a big help.

'Put me down, Tony….It hurts when you carry me,' she confessed, though she wasn't sure if she was up for walking.

Tony eased her down on the pavement. 'The bandages Ducky put on don't do their job?' he asked. She shouldn't be in pain if Ducky bandaged her right, which tony knew he had.

'Yes, they do, but I am just aching all over. I can tell you, vomiting in every toilet in sight isn't something I recommend.'

They slowly made their way over to the entrance of her apartment building. When they finally entered her apartment, she felt so relieved Tony could see it in her face. He quickly made his way to her bedroom and pulled back the covers. She practically fell into her bed, only the thought of how much pain it would cause stopped her from doing so.

She sat down and tried to get her shoes off, but since her head and her ribs were hurting badly, she just slowly sank into the pillows of her bed and couldn't even be bothered with the shoes anymore.

When Tony came back from the bathroom with her medication and a cold cloth, he stood still at the sight of Ziva. She had already fallen asleep, one of her shoelaces was lose, but the other one wasn't even touched. Both of her shoes weren't off. She was still wearing her coat and she slept at a rather odd angle. He figured that was the least painful way of sleeping, but she needed to get her shoes and coat of and, most importantly, she needed to take her medication with a big glass of water. He touched her shoulder and shook her lightly.

'Zee…Zee,' he murmured, trying to wake her up gently so she wouldn't be in pain or try to kill him.

'Mmmm,' was her response. 'Let me be, Tonnneeeeee.'

'No, come on, you have to take your medication,' he coaxed.

He figured she was somewhat awake and he prodded her up against the headboard. She sighed. 'Nurse Ratched'***** , she mumbled. Tony smiled, he was rubbing off on her, she had made a movie reference. He gave her the medication and after she had swallowed them with a small sip from the glass of water, he made her drink the entire glass. She needed to be well hydrated, she was sweating like a pig. He hadn't forgotten the doctor's advice.

He felt her forehead and got scared, she was really hot. The trip to NCIS headquarters had been a bad idea. Damn it, he never should have allowed for her to go in. He kneeled and grabbed one of her feet and started to unlace her shoes. After he had done so he peeled of her coat and when he had done that he figured that was about all he would do. He would just let her get some much needed rest. Still, he was worried about her fever, she had told him about it, but was it suppose to be this severe.

_Oh, hell I'm going to call her doctor_, he thought. The doctor put his mind at ease, he was going to stop by on his way home and check on her. Tony couldn't thank him enough.

Around seven he heard a knock on the door and practically ran to the front door.

'Hey, doc, great to see ya.' Tony was thankful that the doctor had agreed to come and see her.

The doctor simply raised his eyebrows. 'Let's just go and check on Miss David, shall we?' the doctor said, all serious.

When he examined Ziva the doctor noticed her shallow breathing. 'Has she been breathing like this for a long time?' he asked Tony.

'No, this is the first time. Maybe it's because her ribs hurt,' Tony said.

'Her ribs?' the doctor asked, confused.

'Yes, she said it was because of the extensive vomiting that they started to hurt. She came by this afternoon at work and when she told us about the ribs we made her see our doctor. He gave her a compression bandage,' Tony explained.

'She went to work?' The doctor shook his head. 'I'm calling an ambulance. She's breathing way too shallow because of her bruised ribs. When we get her to the hospital, I'm putting her on a ventilator. The fever is pretty much what we had expected, but because of her severe nausea, I think it's for the best if she is monitored until the worst is over,' the doctor said as he took out his cell phone and dialed.

Tony paled. She was in a much worse shape than she had let them to believe. 'Ok, Doc, whatever you say,' he agreed. Why hadn't she told him, why hadn't she opened up to him?

While Tony and Ziva's doctor waited for the ambulance, Tony decided to call Gibbs. Even though it was getting late, he did it anyway.

'What is it, DiNozzo?' Gibbs' usual briskness at the phone was a welcome distraction for Tony. Straight to the point.

'Hey, boss. I just want to let you know an ambulance it coming to take Ziva to the hospital. According to her doctor, she's not doing so well and he feels it's best that she's monitored until the worst is over,' Tony summed up for Gibbs.

Tony and Gibbs exchanged some information and it was decided that Tony would call back as soon as Ziva was settled. She wasn't going to like this one bit. The doctor had already gone outside to instruct the paramedics as soon as the ambulance had arrived.

**TBC…**

**READ & REVIEW**

*****Nurse Ratched is the evil nurse from One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest with the ever brilliant Jack Nicholson.

**AN;** chapter 14,15 and 16 are already written and beta-read. So those will be uploaded a little bit sooner than these last ones.


	14. Chapter 14

I'm back. Thanks to Surferdude for beta-reading this. Don't worry, numbers 15 and 16 are already done and beta-read so those will be up here sooner than the previous ones. Enjoy and please review. Thanks to all those who took the time to do so before, it's much appreciated.

**Chapter 14**

Ziva woke up with heavy eyes. She blinked a few times and was puzzled as to her surroundings. She felt something up her nose.

'Hara,' she mumbled. She ripped whatever it was out of her nose. She was looking at it rather strangely. Where had that come from? She had gone to bed and now she was…..she looked around…in a hospital.

Crap. She didn't want to be here. Bad memories. She had been in one shortly after her return from Somalia. She thought she had made it _very _clear that she did not want to go to hospital. She tried to get up, but was reminded that her ribs were still very sensitive. She hissed in pain and frustration and with that sound Tony woke up.

'What do you think you're doing?' he asked her.

'Getting up, that is what I am doing. I do not want to be here,' she said and slowly sat herself upright at the side of the bed. She was about to step onto the floor when Tony came standing in front of her, blocking her path to freedom.

'Out of my way, DiNozzo. I am going to _leave_. The doctor said there was no reason for me to be here if I follow his instructions,' she said, vainly trying to push him out of her way, but he stood his ground.

'Which, clearly, you didn't,' he said, not budging.

'Oh, and when was that? I take my medications. I drink plenty of fluids. I take plenty of batnaps. The only time I didn't follow his instructions, was when NCIS called for my assistance! Other than that, I have been a good little girl,' she told him.

Tony thought about that and he came to the conclusion she was right. She had done just that. He sighed but still didn't move an inch. 'Ok, you're right. You just scared the crap out of me last night, Ziva. Your fever was high and your breathing was shallow, according to the doctor who I had to come by,' he said.

Ziva looked up. 'I scared you?'

He nodded. 'I…you were hurting and I didn't know what to do.' Tony ran his hand through his hair. Ziva could see how exhausted he was.

Ziva raised her hand and gently stroked his cheek. 'You stayed up all night, did you not?'

'Yeah, I just dozed off for a minute before you woke up. I don't want to lose you; I went through that once before and I don't want to feel like that ever again. My world stopped turning when I heard that you had gone down with the Damocles,' he confessed.

Tears from exhaustion and from worrying about her were spilling over. The pain he had felt when he had heard she had died when the Damocles went down came back up. He had hidden it for more than a year, but right now he couldn't stop the inevitable due to sheer exhaustion.

'Shhhh, it is alright.' Ziva gathered him in her arms. 'I am not going anywhere, but I _do_ want to leave this hospital.'

After a short debate on whether or not she could leave right away, they came to an agreement. Tony would go and find her doctor and, in the meantime, she would stay put.

Tony knew he had to hurry because Ziva wasn't one to stay put for very long. He had located her doctor and the two of them walked back to her room. She had lived up to her end of the agreement and had indeed stayed put. Tony grinned, small victories.

The doctor gave her a short examination and decided that she could, indeed, go home, but under strict supervision. He also took some blood, since her weekly check-up was due tomorrow anyway and he figured while she was here, he might as well do it now and save her the trouble of coming in tomorrow as well. He would contact her as soon as he had the results in.

Tony was grinning from ear to ear, this was it. Now he had a legitimate reason for staying at her place. They swung by his apartment to pick up some of his belongings and then they drove to her apartment. Ziva didn't waste any time and decided to take a nap once she was back in own apartment. Tony was busy taking care of clearing out some closet and drawer space so his clothes would fit in. When he was done, he joined Ziva. He crawled into bed and fell asleep. After about an hour or so Ziva woke up and was looking a sleeping Tony straight in the face.

Since when is it okay to crawl into bed with me without first asking? she thought. She smiled though. He was so cute while he slept. She could wake up to him sleeping like that anytime. She gave a kiss on his cheek, looked at her alarm clock, and decided that she was going to make dinner. She got up and felt nauseous, but not in such a way that she felt the need to throw up. She stood still for a few moments so she could gather her strength and let the nausea subside and then got herself dressed and went to the kitchen. She was almost done when she heard a certain someone paddling barefoot into the kitchen.

'You want something to eat?' she asked without turning around.

'How long have you been up?' Tony asked.

'About half an hour,' she responded.

'How are you feeling?'

'I didn't throw up, if that is what you want to know. So that is a good thing, yes?'

Tony sat down at the table and looked at her. 'You seem brighter somehow,' he observed.

'I feel better. I still felt a slight nausea when I got up, but that went away after a few minutes,' she told him.

'Good,' he murmured and began eating. He was starving. He also noticed that Ziva, although she wasn't eating a whole lot, she ate more than she had been during the past few days.

'You really are feeling better, aren't you?' She smiled and nodded. 'When's your next check-up?' he asked.

'Just had it. Remember, just before I left the hospital today,' she reminded him.

'Oh, yeah I forgot. Good, so what's next?'

'Depends on the outcome of the check-up,' she said.

'What do you mean?' Tony more or less demanded an answer.

'As you may have noticed, he took some of my blood and, depending on the outcome, he will decide what to do next,' Ziva explained. When Tony made it clear he didn't quite get it, she explained further. 'After he gets the results back, he will decide whether or not I should take more or less medication.'

'Oh… you think you can take more of the same?' Tony wanted to know.

'If I want to get better and work at NCIS again, I will have to, Tony,' she said.

'So, what do you want to do today? Gibbs gave me two days off, so I'm at your disposal.'

Tony cleared the table and followed Ziva into her living room. 'Let's just watch some movies, because it's late anyway, in case you have not noticed,' Ziva suggested.

Tony looked outside and to his surprise darkness had set in. 'We slept most of the day!' he blurted out.

Ziva laughed. 'Yes, my little hairy butt, however, in your defense, I must say that since I screwed up your sleeping hours last time, you deserved it.'

They spent the rest of the evening watching several movies until Ziva yawned and they decided to turn in. Without even asking, in Tony's case, and without any form of protest on Ziva's part, they slept in the same bed together.

TBC….

I am trying to put a end to this story but then this chapter (and nr.15 and 16) came out. Ah, well still have to deal with daddy dearest since I for no apparent reason decided to drag him into chapter 12.

Beta Note: So sorry this is late! All my fault!


	15. Chapter 15

Like I had promised, this chapter is up a little bit sooner than the previous ones. Read and please review.A big thank you to surferdude who beta-read this one for me. I am trying to put an end to this story line but the chapters just keep popping out and getting bigger. Why…don't know._ Sentences written in Italic are Hebrew._

**Chapter 15**

Ziva woke up from her phone ringing. She grabbed it from her nightstand and answered.

'David.'

'_Bat,' _came the voice on the other end. A voice she was not expecting.

'_Abba,' _she said, surprised.

Silence…..

'_What do you want from me?' _she asked him.

'_I want to know how you are doing,' _he said as if nothing had happened between them and this was a completely normal thing.

'_You want to know how I am doing? Well, that's new. You've never bothered before so why now?' _she asked.

'_I need….' _He started, but Ziva cut him off right then and there and in a soft but strong voice, she finally did something that she had been putting off for so long.

'_You need something! Isn't it always about what you need? Have you ever bothered to ask what I need? No, you haven't! So I no longer need to know what you want, because I do not want to know anymore. I no longer need your approval. If you ever call ever again, it better be as a father asking his daughter if she is doing alright, but we both know that will never happen!' _

She switched the phone of and gently put it back down. She turned around and saw that Tony was still fast asleep. She snuggled into him.

'Grmpfff.' He made some indistinct noise, but put his arms around her nonetheless and held her until she fell asleep again by listening to his heart.

Ziva was, once again, the one who woke up before Tony did and she slowly got up. This time, the nausea stayed away and she felt better. Her ribs were killing her, but she still hadn't felt like this in a long time.

There was a knock on the front door and Ziva went to see who it was so early in the morning. She held her gun hidden behind her back just in case, but when she opened the front door, she was greeted by a gigantic bouquet of flowers.

She took the flowers and went to the kitchen to see who they were from. She smiled when she saw the card sticking out. Tony was a true romantic. She found the card and when she read it her smile faded quickly.

'_I need you to know I wish you all the best. I hope that this Agent DiNozzo treats you like a queen. He better be, because I am still your father.'_

That bastard. Apparently, he knew that Tony had spent a few nights at her place this week. So that meant he had her under surveillance. He had let her know that, despite everything, he still had eye on her. She put the flowers in a vase. She took the card and wrote something on the back. She got herself dressed and when she took a peek out the window she saw the car of her 'guard' nearby. She walked out the door and before her 'guard' knew it he was gasping for air and a small card was shoved into his pocket.

'_Leave. Send this to my father and if I ever see you doing this again, I will not be so gentle.' _

When she got back into her home she found a very angry Tony standing at the door. 'What?' she asked innocently, knowing full well he would have been worried when he didn't found her in the house.

'Where have you been?' he asked her.

'I felt good so I took a little walk.' She excluded the part where she knew she was being followed.

'Did that little walk also mean choking the life out of an innocent driver?'

She knew he had seen the entire incident. Damn. 'He was not so innocent. He was sent by my father,' she explained.

Tony was stunned. 'Your dad? What the hell does he want all of a sudden?'

'I do not know. He called in the middle of the night and when I brushed him as gone, he sent me these flowers this morning.' Ziva pointed at the bouquet standing her table.

'Brushed him off,' Tony corrected.

'Gone or off, he wanted to let me know he still has not given up on me. That he still has his eye on me. He knows you spent the last couple of nights at my place,' Ziva told him about the card that had been attached to the flowers.

'What did you do?' he asked, worried.

'I wrote that if he wants to know if you treat me well he should come and have dinner with us,' she told him flat-out.

Tony turned as white as a sheet, swallowed, and had to sit down. 'He and I didn't get along the last time we met, remember?'

'Oh, Tony, he is not coming. He is in Israel and he has never come to any of my dinners in my entire life. He is way too busy to come over and have dinner with us.'

Ziva did not know how to explain her relationship with her father to anyone else. She hated him, and yet loved him at the same time. He was all that was left of her family. She had broken all ties with him after Somalia, but still there was this weird, undefined element left.

She shrugged his shoulders, it wasn't an issue. The only time he had left Israel was twelve years ago, and that had been the last time. He would never in a million years come and visit her. Ha! She thought of her father visiting her home. She even doubted he had ever seen her home from the inside when she still was living in Israel. She laughed and the both of them didn't think about again until after the weekend.

Tony saw that Ziva had been, indeed, feeling rather well, so when the weekend was over, he agreed that she could come to work and could do some desk duty the next day. He made it very clear that he was going to take her home around two o'clock so she wouldn't get that tired.

He cleared it with Gibbs and that was how it was done. Ziva had a great time, she was feeling good, her ribs ached, but weren't that much of problem. But when two o'clock came around, she was ready to head home. She had grown tired so she wasn't about to voice a protest when Tony insisted he'd been the one to drive her home.

Just before they wanted to leave, Vance came into the bullpen.

'Good afternoon,' she greeted him as he walked up to her desk.

'Agent David, I just want to give you a heads-up,' he told her.

'On what, Director?' she asked, confused.

'Your father is coming to town,' he said.

'He is what?' she asked, shocked.

All of sudden, they turned around because Tony made this weird gagging sound like he was about to choke on something. He waved as in _please continue,_ so Vance and Ziva resumed their conversation.

'He has not left Israel in over twelve years. Why does he do so now?' she asked, still incredulous.

'I invited him to a conference and he said it was good timing on my part, because he told me he had also been invited to a dinner,' Vance explained.

'Eeeek!'

Once again, they all turned around to see Tony with his hand in front of his mouth. 'Sorry!'

'What's wrong with you, DiNozzo?' Vance growled.

'I invited my father to dinner,' Ziva said. 'He wants to know Agent DiNozzo's intentions with me.'

Vance grinned. 'Ah, so your father is checking out a possible future son-in-law.' He gave Tony a shoulder clap. 'Well, you've always been a good agent, DiNozzo. It really was a pleasure working with you.' Vance was grinning from ear to ear seeing the fear in DiNozzo's eyes.

'It's just dinner, Director. My father is not checking out anything. Agent DiNozzo and I are just friends,' Ziva covered.

'Right,' said Vance.

'No really, Tony has been helping with my treatment and I think my father is making the wrong conclusions. As are you.'

Tony had gotten awfully quiet. He took her home and Ziva noticed that he also had been very quiet on the way to her apartment.

'You are not scared to meet my father again, are you?' she asked him.

'No, of course not,' Tony said quickly.

'Then why are you so distant?' she asked.

'Is that all I am to you? A good help during your treatment?' he asked, turning to face her.

Ziva took a deep breath. Now was as good a time as any. _Let's take a leap of faith and hope he feels the same way as you do, Ziva_ is what she thought.

'No, you are not. I would like you to be more, but I did not want to say anything in front of Gibbs or Vance. It would have been presumptuous for me to assume anything more, even though I want it to be more. I love you, Anthony DiNozzo.'

There it was, it was out in the open. She had spilled her guts. She had opened up to him, her secret was out.

**TBC….**

**R&R (please)**


	16. Chapter 16

Surferdude thank you for beta-reading this. Your suggestions about Tony and his clothes were great, they fitted in just fine. So once again read and review and thanks to those who have already done so. I love it.

**Chapter 16**

Tony was on cloud number nine. The woman he loved just told him she loved him. When he pulled over, he got a weird and rather freaked out look from Ziva. He got out of the car, he ran around and opened her door, pulled her out and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. This would have been a rather romantic gesture, if it wasn't for the fact they were in the middle of the street and all too soon, several car-horns could be heard.

'Get a room for crying out loud!' was heard on several occasions. Some drivers were downright hostile and others were cheering for them. Ziva made sure Tony wasn't the only one party in the kiss. She made sure he felt her desire for him. After a short while, Tony put her down and ran back to his side of the car. He quickly drove them to her apartment. When they took the elevator, Tony couldn't keep his hands of her.

'Not just yet, Tony….wait….We..not public ….ohhhhhhhhhhhh.' Any coherent thought that she had left went out the window. She couldn't think straight anymore. They nearly crashed through her door. Clothes were flying everywhere, they were not going to make it to her bedroom.

'Sorry,' Tony said, though he didn't seem too sorry. They were lying on her living room floor. He propped himself on one arm. 'I didn't hurt you, did I?'

She shook her head. 'My ribs ache, but it was defiantly worth it,' she told him.

Tony turned red, he hadn't even thought about her ribs. He got up and slowly positioned himself on top of her. He started kissing each and every one of her ribs.

'This one?'

She nodded.

'That one?'

She hissed, not from the pain, but from his kissing part of her body. He was making his way down to her legs. Each kiss was getting a little bit more dangerous. She was getting turned on again, but…

'Maybe next time we could make it to the bed,' she said.

Tony chuckled. 'Perhaps.' He kissed another one of her ribs.

She grabbed his hair, pulling him up and thus forcing him to look at her. 'Don't take this the wrong way, but I am really, really tired,' she told him.

'Did I do that?' a big grin appeared on Tony's face, but as soon as he looked at her, he knew it wasn't all because of him. She looked exhausted.

'Would you brag about it if I said yes?'

'No, I wouldn't.' He got up and gently lifted her up. 'Because I can tell this wasn't my doing.'

He put her down on the bed, opened the covers and helped her slide under them.

'Good,' she murmured. 'Don't get me wrong, a quicky is very exciting, but next time I prefer something more elaborate.' She was almost asleep as soon as she had said that last sentence.

Next time, Tony thought. She is already thinking about next time. _Wow_, they were a couple and that thought didn't even scare no-commitment-Tony. No, in fact, he felt great.

He got up and cleaned the living room. Clothes, shoes, _her bra!_ He put his underwear back on. He picked up the magazines that had been scattered everywhere when she had grabbed on to something, anything to hold on.

He grinned. God, he loved that woman. She met him for every step he made. She wasn't surprised by any of his antics, his jokes. No, she would sit wait and then retaliate.

He finally finished getting dressed when his phone went off.

'Do you plan on coming back to work?' Gibbs asked him.

'Sure, Boss, on my way,' Tony told him.

'How is she?'

'She's exhausted and sleeping right now,' Tony said as he tried to find his shirt.

'Fever?' Gibbs asked as Tony stumbled around trying to get his leg into his pants.

'Not as far as I can tell,' Tony answered as he successfully got his belt through the loop.

'Good, now move your butt over here,' Gibbs said briskly, hanging up the phone.

'Yes, Boss. I'm on it,' Tony said, snapping his phone closed as well.

Tony was practically skipping the rest of the day. Gibbs had his thoughts about Tony's behavior, but thought otherwise about saying anything. They didn't need him to invoke his rules right now.

Ziva had slept for two hours, showered, and was in the middle of a good book when her phone rang. It was her doctor. He had some good news. Her first treatment had been a success. It was going the right way, and she should come in by the end of the week and get her second round of medication. They agreed on Thursday at 10 o'clock in the morning. He told her that if the second treatment was as successful as the first one, maybe they could skip the last treatment, but that was something that had to be seen after her third visit.

Tony had, once again, spent the night at Ziva's place and, although they both wanted to, they agreed she needed her rest as much as she could. It was difficult, but both of them were content with the fact they could just simply sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the word.

The following day, Vance announced that Director Eli David would be arriving late on Friday night and that on Monday the conference would begin. Ziva still didn't know what to think about the whole thing. She wasn't nervous. She was curious to hear what he had to say, hell what he would say period. It would be the first time since Somalia that they would meet face to face. She had only contacted him once and that was through mail telling him of her decision to resign from Mossad and that had been that until that phone call last week.

She didn't have much time to think about any of it, since Thursday came around way too fast for her liking. She drove to the hospital on her own, convincing Tony once more that his presence wasn't needed. If it was like the first time, she would be in and out within ten minutes. She was right, she was back in her car within fifteen minutes. Just like the first time, she went to the grocery store to stock up on supplies. She decided that if her father was going to come over for dinner this weekend, she might as well buy everything now, except for the fresh produce. She remembered last time it didn't take long for the medication to take effect. She was prepared, but it didn't was as severe as it was the first time. She made it home safely, tired but satisfied, she went to put the supplies away.

When Tony came home, he found Ziva snuggled up on the couch reading a book. He had already called her today, so he knew this time it wasn't as severe as the first time. He noticed, however, that she did have a fever. Sweat was glistening on her forehead, but to Tony she seemed much stronger than the first time.

'How are you feeling?' he asked her, sitting down on the couch beside her.

She was about to answer when her phone went off. She answered rather briskly and put her hand on the receiver. Her father.

'He wants to come over on Sunday,' she told Tony.

'Sure,' Tony said, quite amazed of himself at how calm he sounded.

Ziva got back to her father. _'Sunday at six, then.'_ She put down the phone and stared at Tony. 'He actually wants to come and have dinner with us…' She shook her head, she was puzzled.

Tony didn't know what to do with himself. Now what, the director of Mossad came over for a visit. 'This is like _Meet The Parents_ with Robert DiNiro,' he said.

'What?' she asked, confused.

'Are you seriously telling me you've never seen _Meet The Parents_ or _Meet the Fockers_?' he asked.

'No I have not,' she said.

'Tell you what, I'm going to get dinner and I'll pick those movies up at my favorite store and we'll make it a nice relaxing evening at home,' he told her.

'Okay,' she agreed.

It took Tony half an hour to pick up food and the movies. When he arrived home, he found Ziva already waiting at the dining room table. They silently ate, each of them lost in thoughts. However that was quickly over when, halfway through, Ziva dashed to the bathroom and Tony could her vomiting again.

He could her hear rinse and brush her teeth. She got back, sat down and pushed her food away.

'Too spicy?' he asked.

'Yes, I wasn't feeling well to begin with, but I wanted to try it anyway,' she said.

'Well at least we now know not to eat anything spicy on Sunday.' He shrugged.

She watched him eat the rest of the meal. She didn't feel like eating anymore. Tony went to the kitchen and poured her a full glass of water. He placed it in front of her.

She pouted. 'Do I have to?' she asked.

'Yes, doctors orders,' Tony told her.

Ziva reluctantly drank the entire glass.

During the evening, she made two more trips to the bathroom, after each and every session, Tony made her drink an entire glass of water.

She was allowed to stay home on Friday, but Tony was due back in. Gibbs dismissed him rather early; it wasn't even five o'clock when he told him to go. Not that there was much to do, but he was grateful to Gibbs.

**TBC….**

**Yes, people once again I ask you to please review.**


	17. Chapter 17

Thanks once again surferdude for beta reading this for me. If there are any mistakes left it's all mine since I changed a little, just a little. Read, review and enjoy.

**Chapter 17**

Tony and Ziva had a quiet Friday night together. Ziva was preoccupied with her father's visit, she mostly wondered why the sudden interest in her well-being . While she was doing that, Tony was preoccupied with coming up with ideas stay alive during that same dinner.

On Saturday, they went to the supermarket to buy the latest things for the dinner on Sunday night. Ziva pretty much had the entire meal in her head and she only needed a few more things to make it all complete. She contemplated about the meal while she was looking for some particular herbs. Wasn't this exactly the way she had always been around her father? Trying to please him no matter what the cost? And wasn't she doing exactly the same thing right now with the meal?

She sighed and realized she was right and all of sudden a weight was lifted of her shoulders. She would cook a meal, no matter if he liked it or not, just as long as she and Tony enjoyed it was all that mattered. She looked around and figured that coming to this conclusion in the middle of a supermarket was an odd thing but a good thing none the less.

She met up with Tony at the liquor section and watched him. He was looking for that right kind of bottle. When he turned around and saw her waiting for him, he lifted up two bottles.

'Which one do you think he would like?' he asked.

'Which one do _you_ like?' she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. 'Don't know. I'm not much of a wine drinker, I'm more of a whiskey man myself,' he said.

'Then you should choose a good whiskey. I have some bottles of wine back home, they will do just fine,' she said.

He looked at her oddly. 'You okay?' he asked her when they joined up and he put a Ballentine's whisky in the shopping card.

'Yes, I am fine. That's the one you choose?' she asked.

'Yup, something wrong with it? I had it once before and I liked it,' he told her.

'I read somewhere it's a refined, elegantly blended Scotch whiskey,' Ziva said.

She was relaxed, it felt so domestic, shopping for groceries together. She enjoyed it. Tony seemed to pick up on her lightened mood and started humming while throwing some stuff in the cart. When they got home and had put away all the groceries, Ziva went about to prepare some stuff for tomorrow. She figured if her father didn't like it, Tony surely would because he already was popping his eyes out at the sight of the elaborate dinner she was putting together.

'You like what you see?' she asked in a low voice. Tony got the hint and wiggled his eyebrows.

'Well, don't know. I should taste some before I decide, shouldn't I?' He wrapped her in his arms and found that one spot in her neck that would always do the trick. This time was no exception. She giggled. He loved that sound.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing long and very strenuous exercises. Afterwards, they fell into each other's arms, completely satisfied and saturated with one another. The only activity that they did in the evening was taking a shower together.

When Tony woke up the following morning, he noticed Ziva was still fast asleep. He was feeling rather nervous. Today, he would meet Eli again. Tony was man enough to admit that the guy scared the crap out of him. Ziva, however, seemed completely at ease with all of it. She had been so uptight the entire week and yet as of yesterday something had changed.

Sunday went by in a blur. Time seems to go by so much faster when you don't really want it to. So around six when the doorbell rang, Tony was on edge and Ziva wasn't feeling all that good. She had thrown up after they had lunch, so Tony was watching her like a hawk. He made sure she took her rest during the day. He figured she needed it during that damn dinner.

Ziva went to her door and opened it. Her father, Hadar, Malachi, and a woman who annoyed Ziva straight away stood in front of her. Hadar, Malachi and the woman were ready to enter Ziva's house for a check-up to see if everything was clear. Ziva stopped them with one hand in the air.

'Either you tell them to leave this instant, or you can forget this entire evening,' she said calmly.

'They are my protection detail. You know this is procedure, bat,' Eli countered.

'You are visiting your daughter, so act accordingly,' Ziva said. 'Make up your mind, this is my house, my rules. Don't like them, then you are always free to leave.'

Tony held his breath. He hadn't understood one word that was being said but he knew he was looking at a standoff between father and daughter. Neither of them was blinking. Eli looked at his daughter and then with a nod which was barely visible, he made it clear that his protection detail needed to leave. Hadar gave a brisk nod, Malachi just looked at Ziva and then nodded, but the young unknown woman wasn't going to back down that easily.

She made move forward, but Ziva blocked her path. 'One more step in here, and you are one more step closer to God,' Ziva said it very calmly but with ice in her voice. Malachi grabbed the woman by her arm.

'Don't, Liat. Ziva is too experienced for you to take on. She could and would kill you in an instant. Do as you are told.'

The woman scoffed. 'She is weak.'

Ziva just smiled. 'Do as you are told and leave.'

Hadar had watched the entire exchange from a distance. He laughed. 'Liat, Liat…' he said, while shaking his head. 'Sometimes, I wonder how come you are still alive. Next time, we won't be here to stop Ziva from killing you.'

'She wishes,' Liat said. Ziva just laughed and closed the door in front her face. Her father's protection detail would remain nearby, but tonight she and her father would be alone.

Well, she thought, and of course Tony would be there. She followed her father into the living room.

'May I take your coat?' she asked him. She had switched back to English so Tony wouldn't feel left out.

'Yes, thank you.' Eli gave her his coat and Ziva noticed he had brought her something. A bottle of wine. She grimaced and stuck her tong out to Tony while she took her father's gift into the kitchen and hung his coat on the peg in the hallway.

'Take a seat, dinner is just about to be ready,' Ziva said from the kitchen. Tony gestured towards the dinner table and sat down with Eli close by. The table wasn't that big, since Ziva's place wasn't that big.

'So…' said Tony. He was lost for words. He didn't know what to talk about with the director of Mossad. Thank goodness, he thought when Ziva put most of the dinner on the table. 'Let's eat,' he said.

The meal started out alright, Eli seemed to enjoy a good home-cooked meal. They didn't say much, but Tony figured that Eli and Ziva both weren't a bunch of talkers to begin with. The things the three of them did talk about were safe subjects. Aunt Netty, the weather in DC and Tel Aviv, and soccer, but that changed rather quickly when Ziva dashed away from the table towards the bathroom. Both men could hear retching sounds coming from the bathroom.

'Is she okay?' Eli asked.

'No, she's not. She is on medication, due to an infection sustained while under the care of our mutual friend, Saleem Ullman.' Tony couldn't help it. He spat the words at Eli. 'Her injuries weren't exactly taken care of after his torture sessions, so she got infected with a bacterium.'

Eli had said nothing. Tony took the already empty plates back to the kitchen and went to check on Ziva. She was coming out of the bathroom again. Tony looked at her, she seemed fine again.

'Go sit, I've got this.' He gestured towards the kitchen.

'Thanks,' Ziva said and took her seat again.

Eli looked her over. She was skinny and looked a little under the weather. 'Are you okay?'

'I will be,' she told him.

And with that, the talking had once again stopped. Tony took care of the rest of the dinner during the evening. Ziva and Eli didn't have much to say to each other. Eli never once brought up the subject of Rivkin or Somalia. Tony was in the kitchen when he heard Ziva enter the bathroom once again. When he got back, the dinner table had been abandoned. He heard soft voices coming from the bathroom. He found Ziva and her father together in a rare moment. Her father helped her by holding up her hair while she was puking.

'I used to do this whenever one the girls became sick. My wife, Ziva's mother, couldn't stand the sound, sight, or smell of vomit. If I didn't do it, I would have two woman or, in a worst-case scenario, three woman in the house throwing up.' He chuckled. He remembered his role in all of this, it was one of the very few things he actually did to help during the girl's childhoods.

He had said it out loud to no one in particular, but Tony was touched. It was the first time he actually saw that Eli was genuinely concerned about Ziva. He kept, probably unknowingly, drawing comforting circles on her back.

A little later Tony, Ziva and Eli were back at the dinner table. They ate what was left and went to clear the table.

'You want something to drink? I bought a good refined, elegantly blended Scotch whiskey,' Tony said to Eli with a straight face. Ziva chuckled. Eli thankfully hadn't noticed.

The evening went along just fine, just as long as certain subjects weren't brought up. Ziva and Eli seemed to be content with avoiding any heavy subjects. Tony knew this wasn't going to last. Sooner or later, one of them was about to pop. He figured Ziva would be the one, but to his surprise, it was Eli who lost the battle of trying to avoid the big pink elephant in the room.

**TBC…..**


	18. Chapter 18

Thanks surferdude that despite your busy/hectic schoolwork you've beta-read this one for me. Only one more to go folks…

**Chapter 18**

'So, you have decided to become an American,' Eli said softly.

Ziva nodded. 'Yes, I have.'

'Why?' he asked, sounding confused.

'Why?' Ziva got furious. 'After all that has been said and, in your case, _not_ done, you _still_ have the nerve to ask _why_?' she scoffed.

'I did what was necessary,' Eli said.

Ziva sighed. Nothing had changed. She hadn't expected anything to, but still she had hoped. There had been a little spark of hope when he had agreed to come over for dinner.

'Yes, you did what was necessary. You _always_ do what is necessary.' Ziva didn't have the energy anymore to convince him otherwise. If he still didn't get it after all these years, why should she bother now? She was done trying to earn his love, affection and attention.

'What is that you want from me?' Eli asked angrily. He didn't understand. What was it that she needed from him? Wait… She _needed_ him. That thought hit him like a ton of bricks.

'Forget it, this was a mistake. You are not going to change.' Ziva stood up. 'Why don't you leave, Director David. This has been a mistake from the beginning.' Ziva walked to the front door. 'Why don't you call your protection detail and let them know you are leaving.'

Eli sat down and made no attempt to leave what so ever. 'I am not good at being a father, bat.' Eli ran his hand through his hair. 'But I am willing to try again. The reason I never showed any affection is that you are my weakness. You are my Achilles heel. I was so afraid they would use you to get to me, I completely turned away from you in order to protect you.' Eli became human right then and there. Tony could swear he shrunk right in front of him.

Ziva walked back to where her father just made his greatest revelation. She gently placed a hand on his cheek and thus forcing him to look at her. She gently pushed away any hair that was in his face. She loved him so much, why couldn't he just see that? Everything she ever did, she did to please him.

'I need you to be here as my father, not as my former director. You may not always agree with my decisions, but I need to know you are in my corner no matter what. I need to know that no matter what, you want me to be happy and that if I need you, you'll be there to catch me if I fall,' Ziva told him.

Eli nodded. He got it now. 'I am willing to try if you let me.'

Ziva nodded as well. 'One step at a time, Abba. One step at a time.'

After this, they all needed a drink. Eli and Tony drank the whiskey Tony had bought just the other day and Ziva, due to the fact she was on medication, drank a soda. Around eleven, Eli called his protection detail and when they arrived Ziva led him to the door. Liat was eyeing her suspiciously and, before Ziva had a change to react, Liat was inside her apartment. She was challenging Ziva's authority in her own house. Ziva had denied her access when they first met, so this was her way of showing Ziva that she wasn't afraid of her.

'Liat, out now. I do not believe my _daughter_ has invited you in,' Eli said with a soft but threatening undertone in his voice. Hadar and Malachi both looked surprised at Eli, they hadn't heard him like this in long time. Eli grabbed Liat by the arm and shoved her out the door. 'You will pay my daughter the respect she has earned.'

Liat was taken completely by surprise, but complied none the less. She had a feeling she had over-stepped her boundaries. The David family had a weird family structure. They hated to love each other.

Eli turned around after this little incident. 'May I?' He gave her a little kiss on the forehead.

'Little steps, Bat.'

'Yes, Abba. Little steps.'

Eli was grinning from ear to ear. Ziva knew that it would be a long, hard road to becoming a family again, but tonight they had made the first little step.

After he had closed the door, Tony let out a sigh of relieve. The night was over. Eli hadn't questioned him about his relationship with Ziva. He had made it through dinner unscaved.

Ziva was already back in her living room, cleaning up the remainders of dinner. Tony chipped in and soon all evidence of a dinner had vanished.

Ziva was tired, but happy. Her father and she had made a good first step in mending old fences. It was by no means over, but it had been a long time since she had such a conversation with her father like she had this evening. She saw Tony clear out the dishwasher and snuck up behind him. She gave him a hug and rested her head against his back.

'You tired?' he asked.

'Yes,' she mumbled.

'Let's get to bed,' he said he turned around, scooping her up in his arms and they went to bed.

The week that followed went by in a blur. The assassination attempt at Ziva's father had left her shaken. Vance was in the hospital. It had been a though week for NCIS, but for Ziva especially. At the end of that week, she went to see her doctor for what she hoped to be the last treatment. Her blood work from the previous time showed the bacterium was on the decline. She and her doctor both decided that this was going to the final treatment, and she was happy to hear that.

After her visit, she decided to see Vance, since he was in the same hospital. When she arrived at his room, there was a lot of commotion. Apparently a former colleague had tried to kill Vance again while he was still in the hospital. Gibbs was there and when he noticed Ziva, he asked if she was well enough to stay by Vance's side while he made other arrangements.

Ziva stepped into Vance's room. He seemed completely out of it, but she was mistaken.

'Miss David,' he greeted her.

She nodded her hello. 'Anything you need, Director?' she asked.

He shook his head. Ziva felt tired all of a sudden. She needed to sit. She was surprised that the nausea didn't surface. She didn't know if she felt this way due to her medication, or due to the fact that this week had been a week from hell. Her father visiting, the bomb, Vance getting injured, or the last part of her treatment. She let herself slump into the only chair in the room a small smile on her face. Tony had been her one constant throughout this. She loved him more then she would ever thought possible. She had idea forming in her head. She knew what to do now. She chuckled.

'Something you wish to share, Miss David?' Vance asked.

'With all due respect, sir, no.'

Vance's wife came running into the room. Ziva excused herself and joined Gibbs outside Vance's room.

'David, why are you grinning?' Gibbs asked her.

'Taking the donkey by the horns, Gibbs. I am going to take the donkey by the horns.'

Gibbs shook his head, smiling. When would she get ever get them right? 'Bull, Ziver, it's bull.'

'No, in this case, it's definitely a donkey.' She laughed out loud. He wouldn't know what hit him.

**TBC….**

One more, so leave your review while you still can.


	19. Chapter 19

The final chapter. I would like to thank Surferdude for betareading all of this. Sentences written in _Italic_ are the Hebrew language. Also many thanks to those who were so kind to leave a review. I hope you all have enjoyed it. R&R please

**Chapter 19**

Ziva was nervous. This wasn't something she did on a daily basis. Hell, she hoped she would never ever have to this again. Gibbs parked the car in the NCIS parking lot and they both walked back to the office. He could feel something was up with his newest probationary agent.

'How are you feeling?' he asked her.

'Nervous,' she admitted.

'Nervous?'

'Yes, I am going to do something I have never done before,' she said.

Gibbs stopped dead in his tracks. 'Do I need , no, do I _want_ to know what you're going to do?' he asked.

She looked at him, tilted her head, and took her time answering him. 'No, don't think so. I am pretty sure it's not against any of your rules,' she finally answered.

He looked at her with a curious look. 'Ziver?'

She smiled, stood on her toes and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek. 'Tell, Tony I will be in coming into the office as soon as I am done doing something in town,' she told Gibbs.

She ran back to the car and, before Gibbs could do anything, screeching tires were heard when she pulled out of the parking lot.

She parked the car not far from where she needed to be. She had bought her new Star of David necklace here and therefore she knew this was a jeweler she could trust. It did help, of course, that he was also a former countrymen.

She took a deep breath and walked in. It took a good hour of searching and negotiating to get what she wanted. She got a good deal, but most of all she got exactly what she wanted. She came out of the store supporting a huge smile. Just as she was about to get into her car when a black and very armored Mercedes pulled up next to her. A window was rolled down.

'Bat,' came the voice from inside.

'Abba,' she answered coolly.

Her father gestured for her to get in. She hesitated, but got in none the less. If they were ever going to trust each other again, one of them had to start giving it. After she had sat down, her father ordered Malachi to drive back to NCIS and for Liat to drive Ziva's car back to NCIS. Liat got out, but wasn't at all too pleased about the whole situation. Ziva chuckled. She still didn't like the woman.

'_Ziva.'_

'_What?' _she asked, a small smile on her face.

'_It's not nice to gloat,' _he told her_._

'_Sorry.' _Ziva shrugged her shoulders, not the least bit remorseful about the incident. Her father talked briefly to Malachi. Malachi got out and went into the store Ziva had just come out of.

'_What is that you want, Abba?' _Ziva asked.

'_What makes you think I want anything?'_

Ziva looked at her father. She had followed Malachi's departure. She was still staring at his back out the window. Her father once again had to interfere in her personal life, like he had done so many times before.

'_You always want something, Abba. So what is it this time?'_

'_I had Malachi go in and pay the bill for you,' _he told her, thinking she'd be happy about it.

Ziva's head whipped around and looked at her father. _'You what?' _she asked.

'_I think I know what you are going to do and I am glad you found someone. I could see it in his eyes when I had dinner at you place. You are the sun and moon in his world. Besides, you could do worse.' _Her father muttered the last part of the sentence. He still didn't think DiNozzo was completely right for his daughter, but as long as she was happy, he would tolerate him. Malachi got back in the car and shortly thereafter they were en route to NCIS.

Liat had already parked Ziva's car and was waiting for them at the entrance.

'_Good luck, Bat,' _Eli said as Ziva opened the car door.

'_I love you, Abba_,_' _she told grabbed his face and gently placed a kiss on his forehead. _'I never stopped loving you, I just couldn't be the one anymore that you wanted me to be.' _

Their foreheads were resting against each other. A silent moment between father and daughter.

'_Now, go and next time I am coming to visit, I better be bouncing a grandchild on my knee,' he told her._

'_First things first, Abba. I might need you to do something before that.'_

She smiled when he got the message. She gave a gentle clap on the cheek. Eli remembered the gesture from a long time ago, when he still was her hero. He smiled, she was going to be alright and he watched her go. She was going to be the only woman ever to hit the Mossad Director and live to tell.

She got out and ran into the NCIS headquarters. The elevator ride was slow and she got more and more nervous the closer she got.

Arriving in the bullpen, she noticed Gibbs and McGee hard at work, going through the enormous amount of paperwork that had to be filled out due to this week's chaos. Tony, however, was doing his best to break his Tetris record.

'Hey, what are you doing here?' Tony asked when he noticed her. 'You okay?'

'Yes, I am more than okay,' she replied. She stood in front of his desk.

'Good, cause we need another pair of hands to fill this mess out,' Tony snorted.

'If _some people_ would stop playing Tetris and actually do something, we would finish so much faster,' McGee piped up.

'Oh, shut up, McGrumpy.' But Tony knew he was right and with a big sigh, he actually went to work but he felt a pair of eyes on him. Ziva was still standing there looking at him. 'What?' he asked

'Nothing,' she answered and walked around his desk and was now facing him. He looked up to see if something was wrong with her. She was acting strange. Ziva got on one knee, pulled out a little black box. _Now or never_. 'Tony, will you marry me?'

McGee nearly fell from his chair and Gibbs just stared. Then he remembered the conversation in the parking lot. She was right, this wasn't against one of his rules. He wondered if he should include another rule in his book. Rule Number 52: Don't propose to your colleague, cause technically Ziva had been right, she didn't go against one of his rules. The pair completely skipped rule 12 and went straight for …Gibbs shook his head. Let's first see how the DiNozzo's would do, cause from the look on Tony's face he was about to say something.

'Yes, you crazy Ninja Chick!'

**THE END**

**AN:** People I will never ever write such a long story ever again. My goodness, I lost track of timelines, sentences and so much more. I have found a great new respect to those who can/will write very long stories that contain more than 25 chapters. Thanks to all those who took the time out for a review it's much appreciated.


End file.
